This Morning in Metals: Trump Says China Tariffs Could Stay for ‘Substantial Period of Time’

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This morning in metals news, President Donald Trump indicated Wednesday the U.S. tariffs on China might not be going away anytime soon, copper prices soared to an eight-month high and an Ohio steel company received a state grant to upgrade a railroad spur.
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Tariffs Likely to Linger

As U.S.-China trade talks continue, President Donald Trump on Wednesday indicated the tariffs imposed on China over the last year likely aren’t going anywhere.

“We’re not talking about removing them, we’re talking about leaving them for a substantial period of time,” Trump was quoted by CNN as saying. “Because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China that China lives by the deal because they’ve had a lot of problems living by certain deals.”
In addition to the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, the U.S. used Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a total of $250 billion worth of tariffs on imports from China last year.

Copper Price Rises to Eight-Month High

The price of copper got a boost on the heels of Federal Reserve comments indicating the economy has slowed since the fourth quarter of last year.
According to Reuters, copper reached an eight-month high, moving against the falling dollar on the heels of the Fed’s comments on the economy; the U.S. dollar index dipped Wednesday afternoon, but has returned to pre-dip levels Thursday.
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Ohio Steel Company Gets Government Grant

An Ohio steel company, Taylor Coil Processing, has received a state grant of $56,125 to upgrade a rail spur, the Tribune Chronicle reported.
The upgrade would facilitate movement of products into and out of Taylor’s plant, according to the report. Citing data from the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, more than 350 million pounds of steel were transported into and out of the Taylor plant in 2018, with 10-15% of that total moving by rail.

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