Major commodity traders like Glencore and Trafigura are rushing to ship copper to the United States following Trump’s order for the Commerce Department to investigate potential tariffs on the metal.
This has created a significant price gap, with US copper prices trading up to $1,300 per ton higher than global prices, while shipping costs are only around $300 per ton.
The Section 232 investigation will likely take months to complete, giving traders a window to move metal without tariffs and secure substantial profits, though this is disrupting global copper flows and potentially reducing inventory available to top consumer China.