London copper prices experienced a significant decline on Friday, marking their largest weekly losses in nearly five months. This drop comes in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding extensive new tariffs, which has negatively impacted the global demand outlook for metals.
By 0708 GMT, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had fallen by 1.57%, settling at $9,219 per metric ton. This represents a total weekly decline of 5.93%, the largest since early November.
Analysts from ANZ remarked that the looming possibility of a global trade war, coupled with weakening economic growth, is likely to continue exerting downward pressure on commodity markets. The tariffs introduced by Trump are especially focused on China and other key trading partners, raising fears of retaliatory measures that could escalate tensions further.
Notably, Chinese imports are set to face a staggering 34% tariff, increasing the total levy to 54%. In response, Beijing has already indicated plans for countermeasures.
Interestingly, while copper is currently under separate scrutiny for potential new tariffs by the U.S. administration, the White House has excluded it from the recent round of tariffs. Furthermore, certain minerals that are not domestically available in the U.S., such as zinc and tin, will also be exempt from these new levies.
However, analysts at ING express concerns that even though base metals are not directly targeted, the potential impact of the tariffs on the demand for raw materials is still weighing heavily on market sentiment. In addition to copper, other metals also faced price declines, with LME aluminium dropping 0.8%, lead decreasing by 0.74%, zinc down 1.33%, tin losing 0.63%, and nickel easing by 0.24%.
China’s financial markets were closed for a public holiday on Friday and are set to resume trading on Monday, April 7.