President Trump’s trade actions against U.S. allies have reached new heights. On Feb. 1, he announced blanket 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and soon delayed them until March 4. Both countries beefed up deterrents against fentanyl trafficking and illegal border crossings. If U.S. tariffs are imposed, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs will make essential imports more costly for Americans and deprive select U.S. businesses, such as Kentucky bourbon distillers and Tesla automakers, of their Canadian markets.

Mineral imports from Canada, particularly copper, play an outsized role in the U.S. economy. Last year, Canada accounted for more than a quarter of all U.S. copper imports. The U.S. is Canada’s largest buyer. Given the burdensome landscape of domestic mining, copper imports must be excluded from tariffs. Copper is vital for numerous U.S. industrial sectors.

Global demand for copper is rising rapidly because of electrification spurred by artificial intelligence and copper-hungry technology across the industrial landscape. By 2035, the world will need nearly 50 million metric tons of copper annually. U.S. demand is set to double by that year, according to S&P Global. This trend is parallel to other critical minerals, such as nickel. Copper, however, remains the most important and most-traded mineral, according to the World Trade Organization. Meeting copper demand at reasonable prices is essential to enlarging the U.S. electrical grid.

U.S. reliance on allied countries such as Canada cannot be overstated. After Chile, Canada is the second-largest source of U.S. copper imports, which in 2023 totaled $9.3 billion — about half of Canada’s exported copper. This copper comes from Canadian mines, refineries and advanced recycling facilities.

U.S. reliance on imports is crucial because of the lag in domestic mining, caused mainly by permitting delays. The National Mining Association says the U.S. accounts for only 11% of global spending on mineral exploration, and the cumbersome U.S. permitting system causes operational delays of an average of seven to 10 years. Canadian and Australian permitting periods average two years.

Competition with China is a big theme for President Trump, but China has eliminated its tariff on refined and scrap copper. It makes no sense to burden the American economy with high-priced copper while China does the opposite.

A 25% copper tariff will handicap multiple U.S. industries. Rising production costs will hit large-, medium- and small-scale construction, electronics production, and transportation first and hardest. In turn, this copper tariff will destroy well-paying jobs throughout the economy.

Copper tariffs make U.S. manufacturers less competitive in global markets for varied electrical and electronic equipment. Copper prices soared after the threat of 25% tariffs to $920 on Feb. 10, up from $558 three days earlier. In the near future, the damage to U.S. manufacturing will far exceed any plausible increase in domestic mining in response to higher prices.

Enacting federal legislation that streamlines the permitting process is by far the best way to promote the mining of domestic copper and other critical minerals. In this spirit, Rep. Juan Ciscomani, Arizona Republican, proposed the Critical Mineral Consistency Act to advance the U.S. energy economy and electric grid security. Like past legislative attempts at permitting reform, this act is a bipartisan effort to strengthen domestic mineral security by clearing up bureaucratic red tape.

Washington policymakers must press for an exclusion for copper in any forthcoming tariffs and, in the same breath, enact permitting reform so that domestic mining can eventually expand to meet growing U.S. demand.