Assessing impact of US copper tariffs: Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy

India is assessing the impact of US President Donald Trump's tariffs on copper exports to the United States, Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy said Wednesday. Officials said impact of Trump's 50% import tariff on copper will be minimal since India's domestic demand is robust. According to sector watchers, Trump's tariffs raise the risk of cross dumping copper from other markets, driving down prices and threatening profitability of domestic producers.

“We are examining the impact of these tariffs on the copper exports,” Reddy said.

Copper price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) has fallen from a high of $ 10,119 per tonne last week to $ 9,893 a tonne Wednesday. But copper futures in the US jumped over 10% to $5.682 a pound.


Sector watchers said there is a global rush to make copper reach American shores before Trump’s August 1 deadline for tariffs kicking in. Trade from Chile and Canada is expected to be most affected.

“India is a copper-deficient country, and its export is not significant,” said Mayur Karmarkar, managing director, International Copper Association India.

India annually consumes about 1.7 million tonnes of copper. Exports to the United States stood at 13,003 tonnes in calendar year 2024, and 3,554 in the first six months of 2025, Karmakar added.

He said India’s domestic demand is extremely buoyant, given the thrust on renewable energy, electric vehicles and a host of other copper-intensive sectors.

“Copper consumers in the USA will be most impacted because more than 50% of their requirement is met through imports,” a domestic industry representative said while adding less than $ 300 million worth copper is exported to US from India.

Subhead: Monitoring of mining funds
Reddy was speaking at National District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Workshop. Mining companies contributing between 10 to 30 percent of their royalty proceeds towards these funds since 2015 onwards. According to official estimates, over Rs 1.09 lakh crore crore has been collected under DMFs till date with Rs 90,000 crore being sanctioned.

“DMF fund utilisation will be monitored through project status tracking which will bring transparency,” Reddy added.

This comes after reports of DMF expenditure not being very well managed in some states.