Good morning. Copper is the one material that shows up in nearly every trade — wire, pipe, coils, fittings. Two things are pushing it up at once right now: a tariff that got harsher this spring, and a metal trading near record highs. If your quotes still run on last year’s material cost, you’re eating the difference.
Top story — The copper tariff now taxes the whole part, not just the metal
Since August 1, 2025, the U.S. has run a 50% Section 232 tariff on imported semi-finished copper — pipe, wire, rod, tube — and copper-intensive derivatives like cable and connectors. The part that changed the math: effective April 6, 2026, the tariff was restructured to apply to the full customs value of the product, not just its copper content, with 50% on semi-finished copper and 25% on copper-intensive derivatives. Translation: the imported copper wire, pipe, and cable your supplier stocks now carries duty on the entire price of the part — and that lands in your material line whether you buy imported or domestic.
Quick hits
Full value, not metal content. The April 6 restructure means Section 232 duties now hit the entire customs value of covered copper articles and derivatives, dropping the old “copper-content only” basis.
The metal itself is near records. Copper had its best year since 2009, with LME prices hitting record highs into early 2026 on AI/data-center demand and supply fears.
Wire is up double digits. Copper electric wire prices rose in Q2 2026 and were up roughly 18% year over year.
The Supreme Court ruling didn’t touch this. When the Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA “reciprocal” tariffs in February 2026, the Section 232 copper, steel, and aluminum tariffs stayed in place — they run under a separate national-security law that wasn’t before the Court, so don’t bank on copper relief from that rollback.
The Tip — Reprice on today’s cost, and give copper an exit
Two moves this week. First, stop quoting copper-heavy jobs — rewires, repipes, panel work — on stale material prices; pull a live number from your supplier the day you bid, and add a material-escalation clause for anything you can’t close and buy inside 30 days. Second, where code and the spec allow, offer PEX for water lines: it sidesteps a big chunk of your copper exposure and often installs faster. You don’t have to win the copper market — you just have to stop absorbing it silently.
Tool watch — [Not sponsored]
The Congressional Research Service brief on the copper tariffs — linked in the Sources below — is the plain-language rundown of what’s covered and at what rate: five minutes that tells you exactly which of your materials are in scope before your supplier explains it in their own favor.
That’s the callout. See you next time.
The Callout — the business brief for the trades. We label every commercial placement: [Sponsor], [Affiliate], or [Not sponsored]. Today’s Tool watch is our own honest read — no one paid for it. 231J Ramparts Road, Te Anau 9600, New Zealand · Unsubscribe anytime.
Sources: White & Case — 50% copper tariff ordered · White & Case — April 2026 Section 232 modification · Congressional Research Service — Section 232 copper tariffs, IN12614 · Congressional Research Service — Supreme Court rules against IEEPA tariffs, LSB11398 · Construction Dive — what the Supreme Court tariff ruling means for construction · CNBC — copper’s record year · IMARC — copper wire pricing report