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President Donald Trump plans to impose a 50% tax on copper imports to boost US production.
The tariffs will come into effect next month on top of the existing 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The announcement came when Secretary of State Marco Rubio was meeting with world leaders.
“Anywhere in the world I would have traveled this week, they received letters,” Rubio said Thursday in Malaysia.
Rubio praised the letter he received from President Trump about the 20 countries, threatening them with higher tariffs if an agreement is not reached by August 1st.
“Some of these countries have received letters that tariff rates are lower than some of their neighbors and some other countries in the world, so that could also be useful as an advantage,” Rubio said.
Two major trading partners, Asia, Japan and South Korea, face a 25% tariff rate next month, affecting the prices of automobiles, electronics and machinery.
“This is a global effort to reset US trade in a way that is beneficial to the US,” Rubio said.
Back at Capitol Hill, lawmakers argued that these Trump administration policies are just hurting Americans now.
“Grocery prices have not fallen along with Trump’s tariffs,” said U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
Senate Democrats said it was because tariffs are affecting US farmers when the administration is reducing its labor force in immigration attacks.
“You have a president who has promised to cut the costs of food. He has deported many hardworking people, and is betraying that promise and in heartbreaking ways,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif).
Bipartisan efforts in the Senate failed in April to block President Trump’s drastic tariffs.
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