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Opinion
Why China is pivoting to Africa for copper
Once a quiet workhorse of industry, copper has become a geopolitical flashpoint in the race for clean energy dominance
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Chenjie Song is a PhD researcher at Johns Hopkins University and a policy consultant focusing on Gulf political economy and China-Gulf relations.
Copper prices surged to new highs in March as trade tensions flared and US President Donald Trump threatened a 25 per cent tariff on all copper imports to boost US production, escalating a resource war. Once a quiet workhorse of industry, copper has become a geopolitical flashpoint in the race for clean energy dominance.
The backbone of electrification, copper is vital to electric vehicles, renewable energy grids and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Its strategic importance now ties climate goals directly to national security. For China, the world’s largest copper consumer, this means confronting a core vulnerability: dependence on foreign suppliers, especially from Latin America, a region within the US sphere of influence. To hedge against growing risks, China is pivoting to Africa.
China’s reliance on Latin America, particularly Chile and Peru, for copper ore is becoming increasingly precarious. Decades of intense mining in Chile have led to declining ore grades and rising extraction costs. In Peru, delays in obtaining permits and political instability further complicate operations.
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