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US-China trade war
EconomyGlobal Economy

Copper floods US as traders try to get the jump on Trump tariffs, but ‘Taco’ trend looms

Traders ship more than 200,000 tonnes of the industrial metal into American ports in July to front-load anticipated levies, as fears of policy reversal persist

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Employees wind copper rods at a workshop that recycles copper in China’s Anhui province. Photo: AFP
Emma Main Shanghai
Spurred by US President Donald Trump’s proposed new tariffs on cathode imports, copper shipments from across the globe are flooding into the United States.
But analysts warn that should a so-called Taco scenario again unfold – as in, “Trump always chickens out” – copper prices in the US would likely fall in the short term.

IHS Markit shipping data showed that more than 200,000 tonnes of copper landed in the US last month – a 12‑year high for monthly inflows. This was said to have pushed the combined US-based inventories of the New York Commodity Exchange (Comex) and the London Metal Exchange (LME) above 740,000 tonnes.

Furthermore, an additional 110,860 tonnes were being held in storage at US ports as of Friday, according to the LME.

Bloomberg reported on Monday that stock levels at LME warehouses outside the United States had tumbled sharply this year. And the outflow was not limited to LME facilities, as analysts said the data showed Trump’s tariff threat was pulling copper out of the Chinese mainland.

Lingang, one of Shanghai’s major bonded-warehouse hubs, has seen this trend unfold since the start of the year.

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