METALS-LME copper eases on Trump's tariff threats on autos, semiconductors
Updates with mid-session trading
Feb 19 (Reuters) - London copper eased on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose 25% tariffs on automobiles and semiconductor chips raised concerns of about metal demand.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) CMCU3 eased 0.2% to $9,456 a metric ton by 0726 GMT.
Trump said on Tuesday he intends to impose auto tariffs "in the neighbourhood of 25%" and similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports, the latest in a series of measures threatening to upend international trade.
He said sectoral tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips would also start at "25% or higher", rising substantially over the course of a year.
"Trump is actually considering implementing further tariffs on auto ... which could lead to a slowdown in global growth and may result in disruptions to the global supply chain. Such disruptions could cause copper to experience some weakness going forward," said Kelvin Wong, OANDA's senior market analyst, Asia Pacific.
Citi said Trump is more motivated to impose tariffs on copper in his second term because of the metal's growing importance to key emerging global competitive industries like energy transition and artificial intelligence.
On the geopolitical front, Trump's administration said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold more talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine after an initial meeting that excluded Kyiv, a departure from Washington's previous approach that rallied U.S. allies to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
LME aluminium CMAL3 was down 0.1% to $2,666 a ton, zinc CMZN3 was up 0.2% at $2,889.5, nickel CMNI3 gained 0.3% to $15,395, tin CMSN3 fell 0.3% to $32,690 and lead CMPB3 lost 0.8% to $1,980.5.
SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 rose 0.3% to 20,700 yuan ($2,841.81) a ton, SHFE copper SCFcv1 firmed 0.4% to 77,080 yuan, zinc SZNcv1 climbed 0.2% to 23,925 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 fell 0.1% to 123,830 yuan, lead SPBcv1 dropped 1.2% to 16,965 yuan and tin SSNcv1 lost 0.3% to 261,550 yuan.
($1 = 7.2841 Chinese yuan)
For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview RING= COMEX copper futures 0#HG: All metals news MTL All commodities news C
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