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United States President Donald Trump has launched his global tariff blitz into overdrive, announcing a new 50 per cent tariff on US copper imports and a 50 per cent duty on goods from Brazil, both to take effect on 1 August.
“I am announcing a 50% tariff on Copper, effective August 1, 2025, after receiving a robust national security assessment,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, an apparent reference to a national security trade investigation into the red metal that has been underway.
The announcement came hours after he also informed Brazil that its “reciprocal” tariff would be raised from its previous level of 10 percent.
Trump first broached the copper tariff during a cabinet meeting early on Wednesday morning AEST, setting off a scramble by companies to import as much copper as soon as possible from Chile and other major suppliers.
He blamed the decline of the US copper industry on past administrations, saying copper was needed for semiconductors, aircraft, electric vehicle batteries, and military hardware.
“America will, once again, build a dominant copper industry,” Trump wrote.
Trump’s Brazil tariff order
Trump’s Brazil tariff order came in a letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that vented anger over what he called the “witch hunt” trial of Lula’s right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump’s comments add to an increasingly bitter public feud that has been ongoing between him and Lula.
Trump also criticised what he said were Brazil’s attacks on free elections, Americans’ free speech, and “secret and unlawful censorship orders to US social media platforms”. He ordered the US Trade Representative’s office to launch a new “Section 301” unfair trade practices investigation that could add even more tariffs, citing “Brazil’s continued attacks on the digital trade activities of American companies”.
Lula responded to Trump’s letter by issuing a statement saying that any unilateral measure to increase tariffs would be met with a response under Brazilian law.
Brazil is the 15th largest US trading partner. Top US exports to Brazil are commercial aircraft, petroleum products, crude oil, coal, and semiconductors, while Brazil’s top exports to the US are crude oil, coffee, semi-finished steel, and pig iron.
The South American country has held off on implementing a digital services tax but has sought to advance legislation with stronger competition regulations on digital platforms.
Trump issues tariff notices to seven minor trading partners
Trump earlier on Truth Social media issued 1 August tariff notices to seven minor trading partners that exported approximately US$15 billion ($23 billion) in goods to the US last year: a 20 per cent tariff on goods from the Philippines, 30 per cent on goods from Sri Lanka, Algeria, Iraq, and Libya, and 25 per cent on Brunei and Moldova.
They were issued a day after Trump said he was broadening his trade war by imposing a 50 per cent tariff on imported copper and would soon introduce long-threatened levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
Trump’s rapid-fire tariff moves have cast a shadow over the global economic outlook, paralysing business decision-making.
Negotiations with the European Union
Trump said trade talks have been going well with China and the European Union, which is the US’s biggest bilateral trading partner.
Trump said he would “probably” tell the EU within two days what rate it could expect for its exports to the US, adding that the 27-nation bloc had become much more cooperative.
“They treated us very badly until recently, and now they’re treating us very nicely. It’s like a different world, actually,” he said.
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said good progress had been made on a framework trade agreement, and a deal may even be possible within days.
However, Italian economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti had earlier warned that talks between the two sides were “very complicated” and could continue right up to the deadline.
