Analysts: Insufficient restrictions on copper tariffs may lead to excess copper inventory being re-exported.

The excess copper inventory in the United States may be re-exported, after the Trump administration announced that high tariffs would only be imposed on semi-finished copper products. Analysts at ING Bank in the Netherlands said that this decision did not meet the market's original expectations for restrictions, as it exempted raw materials such as copper ore, concentrates, and electrolytic copper. Before the policy was announced, due to market expectations of tariffs, a large amount of copper flowed into the United States, causing copper prices on the New York Commodity Exchange to be temporarily 28% higher than those on the London Metal Exchange futures. Analyst Ewa Manthey pointed out that now, "the situation of a large influx of refined copper into the United States will come to an end, and arbitrage opportunities between Comex and LME will also disappear." As a result, some of the excess copper inventory in the United States may be re-exported, flowing into other major storage markets globally, such as LME warehouses, putting pressure on London copper prices.