Trump threatens to set 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals, 50% on copper
The copper levy would come after a probe into imports of the metal, broadening a slate of sector-specific tariffs Trump has imposed since returning to the White House.
"Today we're doing copper," he told a cabinet meeting Tuesday. "I believe the tariff on copper, we're going to make it 50%."
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC shortly afterward that the rate will likely be implemented at the end of July or on August 1.
Trump also said Washington would soon make an announcement on pharmaceuticals, but officials would allow manufacturers time to relocate their operations into the country. "We're going to give people about a year, a year and a half to come in, and after that, they're going to be tariffed," he said. "They're going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200%."
Apart from copper and pharmaceuticals, Trump has ordered probes into imports of lumber, semiconductors and critical minerals that could lead to further levies.
Lutnick told CNBC that US studies on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors would be completed by the end of the month, with Trump to set policies thereafter.
Beyond tariffs impacting sectors, Trump separately slapped a sweeping 10% tariff on goods from almost all trading partners in April. These would have swiftly risen to steeper levels for dozens of economies including the European Union and Japan, but Trump paused their implementation until July 9. The president this week again delayed their reimposition, pushing it to August 1 while insisting there would be no further delay.
'No extensions'
"No extensions will be granted," Trump posted on Truth Social. "There will be no change."
The clarification came after Trump told reporters Monday night that the August 1 deadline was "firm, but not 100% firm."
In a push for further trade deals, Trump also sent letters to more than a dozen partners on Monday, including key US allies Japan and South Korea. Products from both countries would be hit with 25% duties, Trump wrote in near-identical documents to leaders in Tokyo and Seoul.
Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa and Malaysia were among other countries facing duties between 25% and 40%.
Most countries receiving the letters so far saw US tariffs at similar or unchanged rates from those threatened in April, although some like Laos and Cambodia received notably lower levels.
In his messages to foreign leaders, Trump warned of further escalation if there was retaliation against his levies. Lutnick said 15 to 20 more letters could go out in the next two days.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
41 minutes ago
- France 24
US senator warns of fossil fuel coup, economic reckoning
In an interview, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island blamed the sweeping rollback of environmental protections on a flood of unlimited, anonymous corporate political spending, and said exposing the scale of this "fraud" is key to breaking its grip. His remarks came as the death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas linked by scientists to climate change threatened to surge further. "This isn't even government any longer," the 69-year-old told a small group of reporters ahead of an address to Congress Wednesday -- his 300th so-called "Time to Wake Up" speech, delivered as activists reel from Trump's actions. "This is an occupying force from the fossil fuel industry that has injected itself into the key positions of responsibility," said the lawmaker. "It has the appearance of being government -- they ride around in the black cars... they have the offices, they have the titles," he said. But in reality, "they're fossil fuel flunkies... and they care not a whit for public opinion or public safety." Big Oil spent at least $445 million to help elect Trump, according to a recent analysis by Climate Power, which said its figure was likely a vast underestimate because of undisclosed donations. - Dark money takeover - In his second term, Republican Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, gutted science agencies, fired researchers and forecasters, scrapped his predecessor Joe Biden's clean energy tax cuts and rolled back powerplant and vehicle efficiency standards. Whitehouse calls it the oil, coal and gas industry's "most sordid dreams come true" and says the stage was set by the 2010 Supreme Court "Citizens United" ruling, which unleashed an era of unchecked corporate political spending. A former state attorney general who battled corporate polluters, he recalled that when he first joined the Senate, climate bipartisanship flourished: John McCain, the GOP's 2008 presidential nominee, had "a perfectly respectable climate platform," while Republican senators proposed bills. "These weren't little tiddlywinks, nibble-at-the-edges bills," he recalled, but would have genuinely changed the trajectory of climate emissions. Citizens United reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and opened the floodgates to dark money. "They were able to come into the Republican Party and say, 'We will give you unlimited amounts of money. You will have more money in your elections than you've ever seen before.'" - The way forward - Despite the bleak landscape, Whitehouse still sees a narrow path to climate safety — and points to several potential game changers. First, he cites the possible emergence of a global carbon pricing effort, spearheaded by the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which taxes importers based on their climate footprint. Countries like the UK, Canada, Mexico and Australia could join this movement, creating a de facto global price on carbon, enforced through trade -- without US legislation. Second, he says, Democrats can and must expose fossil fuel's stranglehold on the Republican party, a phenomenon he calls one of the "most grave incidents of political corruption and fraud that the country has ever seen," and pass a bill forcing donor transparency. Third, what was once framed as a crisis for polar bears -- and later as an opportunity for green jobs -- is today directly hitting Americans where it hurts most: their wallets. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has warned that climate change will shrink mortgage availability across swaths of the United States in the coming years as banks and insurers retreat from fire- and flood-prone regions. Risks could cascade from an insurance crunch into a broader mortgage collapse -- potentially triggering a 2008-style crash. Whitehouse predicts the fossil fuel industry's hold on Republicans won't last forever. "When it becomes clear what has been done here, then there's going to be a dramatic reset," he said. "A reckoning will come for this. There's no doubt about it -- it's just the nature of human affairs." Trump himself, he added, was merely swept along by the dominant current of the post-2010 Republican Party, with no ideological stake in the issue. As recently as 2009, he co-signed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times demanding stronger climate action from then president Barack Obama.
Local France
42 minutes ago
- Local France
EU unveils 'stockpiling strategy' to prepare for war
The "stockpiling strategy" from Brussels comes as NATO warns that Russia -- currently waging war on EU neighbour Ukraine -- could be ready to attack the alliance within five years. The 27-nation bloc has launched a broad readiness push to bolster its militaries and try to ensure it can defend itself by 2030. "The goal is very simple to make sure that essential supplies that keep our societies running, especially the ones that save lives, are always available," EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib said. "The more we prepare, the less we panic." The EU says the new stockpiling plan is aimed at securing the continuity of key goods during a raft of crises "such as major energy blackouts, natural disasters, conflicts or pandemics." It involves establishing a network between countries to better coordinate stocks, identifying gaps and bolstering "EU-level stockpiles". READ ALSO: EU tells citizens to stockpile three days of supplies in case of attack or disaster The levels of crisis preparedness among EU citizens vary markedly from country to country. Member states, such as Finland, living under Moscow's shadow on the EU's eastern border, have long worked on having society ready for potential conflict. "Of course, if you have a 1,000 kilometres border with Russia, you will feel threatened potentially by a war," Lahbib said. Advertisement "But it is normal, that in Spain, they feel that wildfires are more likely to happen. There is no one size fits all." Lahbib insisted that whatever the cause of a crisis -- be it conflict or natural disasters -- the impact on citizens such as energy blackouts can be similar. "People are without energy, and that's why we need to stockpile items everywhere in the European Union," she said. In March, as part of its efforts, the EU advised every household to have a three-day survival kit including water, food and flashlights ready in case of emergencies.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Brazil summons US envoy over criticism of Bolsonaro trial
The foreign ministry in Brasilia told AFP that envoy Gabriel Escobar will be called to explain an embassy statement describing Bolsonaro as a victim of "political persecution" -- echoing Trump's claims of a "witch hunt" against the 70-year-old Brazilian firebrand. Trump on Monday urged Brazilian authorities to "LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE," in a post on social media. "They have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year!" the US president wrote. Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who narrowly beat Bolsonaro in a divisive election in 2022, has hit back at Trump's "interference," insisting that "no one is above the law." Bolsonaro denies he was involved in an attempt to wrest power back from Lula in an alleged coup plot prosecutors say failed only for a lack of military backing. After the plot fizzled, rioting supporters known as "Bolsonaristas" raided government buildings in 2023 as they urged the military to oust Lula. Bolsonaro was abroad at the time. No 'emperor' The case against Bolsonaro carries echoes of Trump's prosecution over the January 6, 2021 attacks by his supporters, who overran the US Congress to try and reverse his election loss. Trump pleaded not guilty, and the case was abandoned when he was reelected president. The cases have drawn the Trump and Bolsonaro families together, with the Brazilian ex-leader's sons lobbying for US sanctions against a Supreme Court judge sitting on the ex-president's trial. In his post Monday, Trump suggested Bolsonaro was the favorite in presidential elections next year, despite being banned from running for spreading disinformation about Brazil's voting system. Bolsonaro senior thanked Trump for his defense of "peace, justice and liberty" in a social media post. On Wednesday, the US embassy in Brasilia issued a statement to "reinforce" Trump's support for Bolsonaro. "Jair Bolsonaro and his family have been strong partners of the United States," read the note. "The political persecution against him, his family, and his followers is shameful and disrespects Brazil's democratic traditions." The showdown between the two countries extended to the economic sphere this week, when members of the BRICS grouping, meeting in Brazil under host Lula, criticized Trump's imposition of import tariffs and his bombing of Iran. This drew the US president's ire and a threat of 10 percent additional tariffs on each BRICS-aligned country. © 2025 AFP
