


President Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on certain copper imports starting Friday, the same day the widespread “Liberation Day” duties are scheduled to kick in.
In a flurry of trade news on Wednesday, Trump hit Brazil with a 40% tariff rate, announced 25% tariffs on India, and revealed an oil and trade deal with Pakistan. The White House also revoked a global tariff exemption for small packages known as the de minimis exemption.
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TRUMP TARIFF LETTERS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW TRADE DEALS, RATES, AND ‘LIBERATION DAY’ PAUSE
Starting Aug. 29, all imported packages sent by mail or postal network valued at under $800 will be subject to duties to end the “big scam” of de minimis shipments that hurt U.S. businesses, according to the White House.
Regarding copper, Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday after directing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick earlier in his administration to investigate whether copper is being imported into the country at high enough rates to be considered a national security threat under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
“The Secretary found that the present quantities of copper imports and the circumstances of global excess capacity for producing copper are weakening our economy, resulting in the persistent threat of further closures of domestic copper production facilities and the shrinking of our ability to meet national security production requirements,” Trump wrote in the proclamation.
The proclamation also creates a process to identify and impose tariffs on certain derivatives of copper, in addition to a carve-out for British copper after the United States and the United Kingdom reached a trade deal in May.
Trump’s tariffs on copper match the rates of duties he has placed on other metals, such as steel and aluminum. The new rate only applies to semi-finished copper products, such as copper pipes, wires, rods, sheets, and tubes, as well as copper-intensive derivative products, such as pipe fittings, cables, and connectors, according to the White House fact sheet. Trump spared raw copper materials such as ores, concentrates, and cathodes from the higher levies.
The new rate also coincides with his “Liberation Day” tariffs, some of which have been adjusted in letters sent to individual countries or because those countries, including the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, have struck trade deals with him.
Other countries, such as Brazil and India, have been hit with higher tariffs because of Brazil’s prosecution of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, for trying to overturn his 2022 election, and India’s purchase of Russian oil despite its war in Ukraine.
“The Order declares a new national emergency using the President’s authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) and establishes an additional 40% tariff to address the Government of Brazil’s unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming U.S. companies, the free speech rights of U.S. persons, U.S. foreign policy, and the U.S. economy,” the White House said of a separate executive order Trump signed on Wednesday afternoon regarding 40% tariffs on Brazil.
Of India, Trump added on social media Wednesday morning, “They have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE.”
WHITE HOUSE HOPES POSITIVE GDP REPORT WILL PLACATE RECESSION ‘PANICANS’
Despite the original “Liberation Day” tariffs being repeatedly delayed due to stock market fallout, the White House remains adamant that the duties will not increase consumer prices. Instead, it contends that raised levy revenue will help the country pay down its debt and reduce the burden on taxpayers.
“The import prices have dropped dramatically since the tariffs started, which is a sign that, as President Trump suggested, that foreign countries and foreign companies are going to bear a lot of the tariff,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told reporters. “We’re highly confident, if you look at the GDP released today, that real wages grew at a 3% rate, a strikingly high rate, and that means that people have more money in their pockets than the price increases that they’re seeing, and that’s a good sign. I think that that’s what we should expect to see in the future as well.”