Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of mining-state lawmakers want to unleash federal support for domestic copper production.
Why it matters: Copper is a key component in EVs and many other products, and a legislative push to add the metal to the USGS critical mineral list could unlock funding and investment.
- And a Commerce Department trade investigation could result in new copper import tariffs.
Driving the news: Senate Energy and Natural Resources plans a hearing Wednesday on Chair Mike Lee's Critical Mineral Consistency Act and a slate of other minerals bills.
- In 2023, the Energy Department added copper to its list of 18 "critical materials," which includes those crucial to energy technologies and face risks of supply disruptions by 2035.
- But USGS left copper — essential to power grid components, wind turbines and transmission lines as well as EVs — off its separate list of "critical minerals."
- Lee's legislation would require alignment between the two lists.
Zoom in: Sen. John Curtis of Utah, a sponsor, told Axios that copper feeds critical industries, "especially green energy, clean energy."
- "The calculus that I come from a copper state is not the motivator — it's that we need more copper," Curtis said.
Arizona Rep. Juan Ciscomani, who sponsored the House version last session, told Axios that he plans to reintroduce it soon.
- "We mean for this to be bipartisan, hopefully, again," he said of his bill, which 44 Democrats voted for last year.
- "It goes into the whole energy policy that this administration wants to do as well."
Zoom out: Some say the lists are a symbolic but important signal to investors that the government is backing supply chains on national security grounds.
- The DOE's Loan Programs Office announced it would support extraction projects for USGS-designated critical minerals.
- The Biden administration fast-tracked permitting of Arizona's South32 Hermosa zinc and manganese mine by touting it as the only U.S. mine with two critical minerals.
Yes, but: Even with federal recognition, copper faces permitting hurdles stemming from concerns about mining's impacts on sacred tribal lands, endangered species, and water.
- Rio Tinto's Resolution Mine has been mired in litigation for years. The Supreme Court heard a challenge to its permit last fall.
Between the lines: Tariffs, a favorite tool of President Trump, could raise prices or create supply-chain bottlenecks for manufacturers.
- If tariffs are imposed, "businesses need some certainty as to where they can import or where they should be planning to get their copper resources," said Spencer Pederson, senior vice president of public affairs at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.
- Domestic supplies of copper and other minerals should be expanded, "but that can't happen overnight," he said.
