Copper prices are on track for their largest annual increase in more than a decade, intensifying cost pressures across construction and development just months after the Trump administration imposed a 50% tariff on finished copper products used in U.S. building projects.
Copper prices surged more than 30% in 2025, briefly topping $12,000 per metric ton in December — the biggest yearly rise since 2009, according to the Financial Times. 
Analysts at StoneX, Marex, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and Macquarie said copper’s rally reflects a convergence of mine supply disruptions, tariff-driven trade distortions and rising fears of a structural deficit emerging later this decade…