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President Donald Trump opened yet another front on Tuesday in his assault on global trade norms, ordering a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild US production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods.
Trump, looking to thwart what his advisers see as a move by China to dominate the global copper market, signed an order at the White House directing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to start a national security probe under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. That is the same law Trump used in his first term to impose 25% global tariffs on steel and aluminum.
A White House official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said any potential tariff rate would be determined by the investigation, adding that Trump preferred tariffs over quotas.
The move is the latest by Trump to upend decades of…
