LatinNews Daily - 10 July 2025

*Chile’s foreign minister, Alberto van Klaveren, has told the local media that “Chilean copper will keep finding new markets” in response to US President Donald Trump’s announcement yesterday of a new 50% tariff on copper imports as of 1 August. Trump first announced the plans on 8 July without setting a date. Van Klaveren made his comments following a meeting with Mining Minister Aurora Williams and other top officials to outline a strategy in response to Trump’s announcement. Chile is the world’s top copper producer.  Telling reporters that “the US is going to keep needing copper because it doesn’t have the capacity to replace the copper that it imports from Chile and other countries”, Van Klaveren said the government led by President Gabriel Boric was still awaiting official communication from the Trump administration regarding the tariffs, and as a result did not know what would be included so was waiting to find out to see how this might impact Chile’s copper exports to the US. Williams said that approximately 11% of Chile’s copper exports (including copper cathodes) went to the US which is the country’s second biggest trading partner. Meanwhile the US accounts for less than 7% of Chile’s refined copper exports according to an 8 July statement by Chile’s mining lobby Sociedad Nacional de Minería (Sonami), which also said it was too soon to understand the impact of Trump’s announcement.

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