Chile: On 10 July Chile’s President Gabriel Boric held a meeting with Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren, Finance Minister Mario Marcel, Mining Minister Aurora Williams, the chairman of Chile’s state-owned mining company Codelco, Máximo Pacheco, and Chile’s ambassador to the US Juan Gabriel Valdés, to discuss US President Donald Trump’s proposed imposition of a 50% tariff on copper imports to the US as of 1 August. The previous day Van Klaveren said the government was still awaiting official confirmation from Washington regarding the tariff threat which Trump first floated on 8 July. Also on 8 July, the president of Chile’s mining lobby Sociedad Nacional de Minería (Sonami), Jorge Riesco, declared it too soon to understand the impact of Trump’s announcement on Chile, the world’s top copper producer. In a statement, Riesco said the US accounts for less than 7% of Chile’s refined copper exports but added that it “concerns us the indirect effect that these kinds of announcements can have on international prices and on the global investment climate”. He noted that in the short term, US companies stockpiling copper ahead of possible tariffs had driven up prices, but this was likely to be temporary. In a call with Reuters shortly after Trump made his announcement on 8 July, Pacheco said the firm wanted to know which copper products would be included and if the tariff would hit all countries. “We’ve always known that exceptions are made, and therefore, I think it’s premature to comment,” he said.
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