Washington: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to investigate how copper imports threaten America\u2019s national security and economic stability, in a move that could lead to the imposition of new tariffs on the metal used to produce aircraft, vehicles, ships and other military hardware.<\/p>\n
Trump directed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to conduct the investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to impose import restrictions if an import threatens to undermine the United States\u2019 national security.<\/p>\n
The move came as he is using tariffs to boost the U.S.\u2019 manufacturing sector, reduce America\u2019s trade deficits and achieve other policy goals, reports Yonhap news agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis investigation will assess the national security risks arising from the United States\u2019 increasing dependence on imported copper, in all its forms, and the potential need for trade remedies to safeguard domestic industry,\u201d the White House said in a fact sheet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigation will culminate in a report identifying vulnerabilities in the copper supply chain and providing recommendations to enhance the resilience of America\u2019s domestic copper industry,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
In a social media post, Trump said like America\u2019s steel and aluminum industries, its copper industry has been \u201cdecimated by global actors attacking our domestic production.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo build back our Copper Industry, I have requested my Secretary of Commerce and USTR to study Copper Imports, and end Unfair Trade putting Americans out of work. Tariffs will help build back our American Copper Industry, and strengthen our National Defence,\u201d he wrote on Truth Social. USTR is short for the U.S. Trade Representative.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerican Industries depend on Copper, and it should be MADE IN AMERICA \u2014 No exemptions, no exceptions! America First creates American jobs, and protects our National Security. It\u2019s time for Copper to \u2018come home.’\u201d<\/p>\n
By law, the commerce secretary has 270 days to present his department\u2019s findings and recommendations regarding the copper issue to the president. Within 90 days after getting a report from the secretary, the president is to determine whether he concurs with the department\u2019s findings and make a decision.<\/p>\n
A White House official, however, anticipated the investigation process will proceed quickly \u201cin Trump time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump has already announced a plan to start imposing 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, while his administration is moving to impose \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs on U.S. imports to match duties that other countries slap on U.S. exports. He is also weighing imposing possible tariffs on cars, chips and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to investigate how copper imports threaten America\u2019s national security and economic stability, in a move that could lead to the imposition of new tariffs on the metal used to produce aircraft, vehicles, ships and other military hardware. Trump directed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to conduct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-53213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/202412103277538-5Mro2b.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53215,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53213\/revisions\/53215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenftimes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}