Trump Declares 50% Copper Tariff as Trade War Widens

Long-threatened levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals also coming soon

- 

WASHINGTON/TOKYO - US President Donald Trump broadened his global trade war on July 8 as he announced a 50 percent tariff on imported copper and said long-threatened levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals were coming soon.

One day after he pressured 14 trading partners, including powerhouse US suppliers such as South Korea and Japan, with sharply higher tariffs, Mr. Trump reiterated his threat of 10 percent tariffs on products from Brazil, India, and other members of the BRICS group of countries.

He also said trade talks have been going well with the European Union and China, but added that he is only days away from sending a tariff letter to the EU.

Mr. Trump's remarks, made during a White House Cabinet meeting, could inject further instability into a global economy that has been rattled by the tariffs he has imposed or threatened on imports to the world's largest consumer market.

US copper futures jumped more than 10 percent after Mr. Trump's announcement of new duties on a metal that is critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid, and many consumer goods.

They would join duties already in place for steel, aluminum, and automobile imports.

US pharmaceutical stocks also slid from the day's highs after Mr. Trump's threat of 200 percent tariffs on drug imports, which he said could be delayed by about a year.

Other countries, meanwhile, said they would try to soften the impact of his threatened duties after he pushed back a July 9 deadline to August 1.