The copper crunch: inside the US-China battle for a critical global supply chain
Washington’s efforts to rebuild the domestic copper industry are colliding with Chinese dominance in a metal central to advanced tech and defence systems
As China and the United States compete for leadership in AI, energy and other strategic sectors, a quieter but no less important contest is taking place further down the supply chain: the race to secure copper.
The humble metal has become one of the most vital commodities of the 21st century, powering the servers, systems and cooling infrastructure that support artificial intelligence as well as the batteries used in electric vehicles and the electronics guiding modern weapons.
The report will include an update on the necessity of new tariffs on refined copper imports, following a recommendation by Lutnick in a similar report last year. At that time, the commerce secretary suggested duties of 15 per cent to be enacted on the first day of 2027, rising to 30 per cent a year later.
“A single foreign producer dominates global copper smelting and refining, controlling over 50 per cent of global smelting capacity and holding four of the top five largest refining facilities,” the White House wrote in a February 2025 order, which opened an investigation into copper imports under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act.