2026-01-12 19:33:27

Curious about why copper tanked so hard in August? The answer lies in U.S. tariff policy. When the administration announced a 50% tariff on copper imports starting August 1st, the market immediately braced for impact. Refined copper—which represents the bulk of trading volume—faced direct exposure to this policy shift. Traders had seen this coming and positioned accordingly, but the actual implementation still triggered a sharp selloff. The tariff uncertainty rippled through commodities markets, affecting everything from industrial metals demand to broader risk-on/risk-off sentiment in financial markets.

This page may contain third-party content, which is provided for information purposes only (not representations/warranties) and should not be considered as an endorsement of its views by Gate, nor as financial or professional advice. See Disclaimer for details.

21 Likes

Reward
21
5
Repost
Share

Comment

0/400

Layer2Observer

· 01-15 08:49

A 50% tariff is directly imposed, and the market reaction is essentially a process of re-anchoring prices... Let's look at the data. The trading volume of refined copper is indeed concentrated on the spot side. This selloff is not surprising in terms of logic, but the magnitude is a bit larger than expected. An interesting finding is that this kind of policy shock often amplifies in the derivatives market, and further validation is needed to observe the subsequent pace of liquidity recovery.

View OriginalReply0

MEVHunter_9000

· 01-12 20:00

50% tariffs directly crushed copper prices... By the way, the market's expectations this time are really huge, and those who anticipated early are all making big profits.

View OriginalReply0

BearMarketBarber