Key industries face a "tariff storm" as Trump plans to impose heavy taxes on copper and drugs.

President Trump announced on Tuesday at the White House that the United States plans to impose a 50% tariff on all imported copper, and will also impose punitive tariffs of up to 200% on imported pharmaceuticals. This marks a new round of toughening of the Trump administration's trade policy, aimed at promoting the "reshoring" of key industries to the United States. "I believe we will impose a 50% tariff on copper," Trump told the media at the White House. He added, "If drugs have to be imported from abroad... we will impose a very, very high tariff on them, about 200%. We will give them some time to reorganize." Trump revealed that in addition to copper and pharmaceuticals, new tariffs will soon be announced for other key industries such as chips. "We will announce tariffs on some important industries, including pharmaceuticals, chips, and other major projects." Copper is a core metal in the supply chain of electronic products and clean energy, widely used in rechargeable batteries, electric wires, power generation equipment, and new energy vehicles. Due to its irreplaceable role in modern industry, copper has been designated as a "critical mineral" in the United States. In February of this year, the U.S. government initiated an investigation into the import of copper under Section 232 to assess whether it poses a threat to national security. The implementation of the tariff policy is clearly a direct extension of this investigation. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States mined approximately 1.1 million tons of copper in 2024, with one-third exported, mainly in unrefined form, while the import volume during the same period was 810,000 tons, almost all of which was refined copper. Chile is the largest source of copper imports to the United States, accounting for about two-thirds. Compared to copper, the high tariffs in the pharmaceutical sector are more shocking. The Trump administration plans to impose a 200% tariff on all imported pharmaceuticals, attempting to force pharmaceutical companies to manufacture domestically in the United States in order to reduce dependence on overseas sources. "We hope pharmaceutical companies will bring production back to the United States, and if they are unwilling, they will pay the price," Trump said. "We will provide a transition period, but ultimately production must be in the United States." This policy will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the global pharmaceutical supply chain. Since most active pharmaceutical ingredients and generic drugs are produced overseas, the supply structure of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry is highly dependent on the global market. Imposing high tariffs could lead to a significant increase in the prices of imported drugs and further exacerbate price pressures on pharmaceuticals domestically in the United States.