Our Bureau
Mumbai
The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has revealed several new tariffs. After announcing similar duties of Aluminium and Steel imports, Trump has announced 50% tariffs on Copper as well. The President has also stated clearly that he would not be extending the deadline for higher US tariffs to take effect.
Trump had a cabinet meeting on 8th July in which he announced, “Today we’re doing copper. I believe the tariff on copper, we’re going to make it 50%.” The US has also stated that the duties on pharmaceuticals imported by them could increase by as much as 200% after a year. The President stated that they would be allowing pharmaceutical manufacturers time to relocate their operations into the country.
Trump stated, “We’re going to give people about a year, a year and a half to come in, and after that, they’re going to be tariffed. They’re going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200 per cent.”
As per trade data, India had exported $2 billion worth of copper and copper products globally this past year in 2024-25. Out of the $2 billion, the US provided for 17% of the total exports amounting to $360 million making them the country’s third-largest market for copper exports behind Saudi Arabia (26%) and China (18%).
One thing that can be a bit of a worrying factor for India is the pharmaceutical sector. The largest overseas market for India for pharmaceuticals is the United States and hence these changes in tariffs could play a major role. The exports for last year (FY25) were peaking around $9.8 billion which is way higher than their previous year’s output of $8.1 billion.
