Donald Trump’s rampant tariffs have affected many industries, and while Northwestern BC’s most recent concern has been the increase in duties on Softwood lumber, copper is another important item.
Copper is used to help make many things like vehicles, plumbing pipes, wind turbines and even clothing.
Warwick Smith, the CEO of a Canadian precious and base metals explorer and developer called American Pacific Mining Corp, recently explained why Northwestern BC won’t be hurt by tariffs on copper;
“What typically happens is you’re going to from BC or Alaska, ship this unrefined product 99 percent of the time over to China. And then it’s being shipped back as a refined product. None of that product will be affected by these tariffs.”
Smith also highlighted the ways that the tariffs could help BC mines and all of Canada;
“It shone a big spotlight on what insiders have known for a while, the world needs a lot more Copper than it has access to. And so for those mines in places like Terrace, you’re making a domestic product that Canada needs quite desperately. And if there’s one thing that Canada needs to do better, it’s trade within it’s internal borders. This second coming of Donald Trump has been one of the best things to happen to Canada, because it’s made us look internally and say, how do we do better here? The stronger we are within our own borders, that makes us a stronger trade partner. Because if you’re able to trade within your own country, you can drive your price up and drive a much harder bargain when you’re looking outside the country as well.”
But despite the positives, Smith expects copper prices to dramatically increase in the future, regardless of what happens with the tariffs because it’s a very in-demand material and there will need to be a lot more of it to keep up with the demand.