Trump Put a Tariff on Copper. Here's What AI Companies Got Instead

By The Decision Room

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Every wall in an American house has it. Every phone charger, every EV motor, every server rack in the AI data centers being built right now needs the same reddish-brown metal. In August 2025, Trump slapped a 50% tariff on foreign copper, calling it a national security threat. In the same breath, his own administration carved out a specific exemption for the raw and refined copper the country actually needs most. The US relies on imports for more than half its refined copper, and only operates a handful of aging smelters, most running at a loss. Taxing the raw material would have meant taxing the country's own manufacturing base — right as every AI company was racing to lock down copper supply. So the tariff hit finished wire and cable (no exemption, full 50%) while sparing raw ore and cathode. Canada sits on both sides of that line. Quebec's Glencore-operated Horne smelter is one of the only integrated copper refining operations in North America outside Chile — protected by the exemp

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