Trump Opens Door to New Metal Levy With Copper Tariff Probe

Both friend and foe have been treating American tech companies, partially, as if our companies are their piggy bank,

Lutnick said

Peter Navarrowhite House trade adviser

China has long used industrial overcapacity and dumping as an economic weapon to dominate global markets, systematically undercutting competitors and driving rival industries out of business by massively subsidizing key industries, flooding international markets with below-cost goods and then consolidating control once competitors collapse,

Peter Navarro said in a call with reporters ahead of the signing

Tariffs will help rebuild back our American copper industry and strengthen our national defense. American industries depend on copper, and they should be made in America. No exemptions, no exceptions. America first creates American jobs and protects our national security. It's time for copper to come home."

Lutnick read from what he said was a social media post he planned to release, saying

Like our steel and aluminum industries, our great American copper industry has been decimated by global actors attacking our domestic production,

Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, said in a statement

It’s time for copper to come home,

Lutnick added

What we know is we're steadily losing melting and refining capacity, both in absolute and relative terms,

a senior White House official said Tuesday, noting both copper and copper wiring's prevalence in U.S. military equipment and the rapid rate at which the world is "increasingly being electrified."

Tariffs can help build back our American copper industry, if necessary, and strengthen our national defense,

What they're saying ... Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement given to reporters

Copper is the second-most important thing the Defense Department uses in order to make its weapons systems,

Navarro said

Because with this whole electrification of our economy, we're doubling copper demand in just 10 years,

he said

And so today was one of a piece of 232 investigations like aluminum and steel, which we've already done. And Secretary Lutnick will in Trump time — which is to say, quickly — come up with recommendations as to whether we should tariff copper so that we can regain our ability,

he said