Top copper producer Chile still without details on U.S. tariffs, officials say

By Fabian Cambero

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile’s mining minister and the chairman of the world’s biggest copper producer, Codelco, said on Wednesday they have not yet received details on 50% copper tariffs due to be imposed by the United States on August 1.

“At this point, we’re all waiting,” Maximo Pacheco, chairman of state-run Codelco, told Reuters. He added that the upcoming tariffs had influenced record U.S. copper prices, and that global economic uncertainty was causing price volatility.

Chile, the world’s biggest supplier of the red metal, is also the top importer of refined copper to the United States.

Mining Minister Aurora Williams, after a meeting with Codelco and other producers, said the government would continue discussions with industry leaders. She declined to comment on whether Chile is developing a counter proposal to present to the United States.

(Reporting by Fabian Cambero, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Natalia Siniawski)