President Donald Trump on Wednesday affirmed that the United States will levy a 50 percent tariff on copper imports starting Aug. 1, following through on an earlier statement that he would target a key metal used for semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries, renewable energy technology and more.

Copper shipments into the United States are expected to accelerate in the coming weeks in a final scramble to get metal across the border before U.S. President Donald Trump's higher than expected 50% tariff on imported copper takes effect.

President Donald Trump says he will put a 50% tariff on copper imports before noting the value of the versatile metal.

President Donald Trump has launched a wave of Section 232 tariffs and investigations, seeking to protect U.S. national security. These nine graphics show the scale and structure of U.S. reliance on

United States President Donald Trump's proposed 50% tariff on copper imports would affect Mexican exports worth around US $1 billion per year.

Copper prices in the United States jumped more than 12% to a record high above $12,330 per metric ton after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would announce a 50% tariff on imports of the metal on Tuesday.

“The U.S. has been sucking in lots of copper that it didn’t really need from around the world,” Albert Mackenzie is a copper analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. President Trump had signaled that the tariffs were coming months ago, prompting many U.S. buyers to stockpile copper ahead of time.