The tight supply situation in the copper market is easing. The window of arbitrage for avoiding tariffs is closing soon.

With the US President Donald Trump planning to soon impose a 50% tariff on copper, the tight supply situation in the copper market will come to an abrupt halt. The key price spread on the London Metal Exchange, which soared at the end of June as traders rushed to ship copper to the US, depleting inventories, has now collapsed. Signals from the White House indicate that additional tariffs are imminent, which means there is little time left to profit from arbitrage before the tariffs take effect. Shipping from warehouses in Europe and Asia takes weeks to reach the US, and these goods will soon face the risk of arriving after the tariffs come into effect. The spot price of LME copper has fallen below the three-month future copper price for the first time in over a month, indicating a rapid decline in demand for copper in the exchange's storage network. A key next-day spread has also dropped significantly.