The executive president of the Mining Council, Joaquín Villarino, downplayed the announcement of 50% tariffs on copper imports by the United States and considered that the rates would imply a “rather inexplicable advantage” for China.
In a conversation with T13 radio, the executive of the entity that groups the large mining companies in Chile –AngloAmerican, Barrick, BHP and Codelco, among several others– explained that in international markets there is great interest in having copper due to electromobility, the energy transition and the urbanization of the world. “When one analyzes the international markets regarding the demand for copper, it appears solid, sustained, with good fundamentals to think that there will be markets for the placement of copper, which the U.S. will eventually not buy,” he stated.
“In practice, there will be demand in the world,” he indicated. “India is growing at impressive rates. And therefore it could become another phenomenon like China became more than a decade ago.” He also recalled that “only 10% of Chilean copper production ends up in the U.S. The other 90% does not go to the United States (…) It is one less reason for concern.”
EMOL publishes that, in relation to the prices observed in the market in recent hours -yesterday the pound reached a historic high of US$5.58, due to the provisioning generated after Trump’s announcement- Villarino stated that “one day or two days has a rather marginal impact. But it is always positive.”
He clarified, in any case, that “what is tremendously positive is that we have witnessed a copper price above US$4 per pound for more than a year. With fundamentals that support that this will remain above US$4 in the medium term.” With this in mind, he argued that “this has a positive impact for companies. But it has a tremendously positive impact for the State of Chile.”
The representative of the mining companies also said he did not understand Trump’s decision to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports. “The U.S.,” he explained, “consumes approximately 1.6 million tons of refined copper. And it only produces 1.1. That is, it has to import practically 500 thousand tons, 600 thousand additional tons. And it does not have the capacity to produce them quickly.”
He asserted, in that vein, that despite the speed one might want to apply to accelerate mining projects in the U.S., these initiatives take at least two or three years to build “at full speed.” “This means in practice favoring its natural competitor, which is China, a great deal,” he also said.
“China will be buying copper without these tariffs, it will be a better market. China has a much greater smelting and refining capacity. He is gifting them a rather inexplicable advantage,” he added.
