in effect
This is Executive Order 14220, signed February 25, 2025, directing a federal trade investigation into copper imports. It orders the Secretary of Commerce to open a “Section 232” national-security investigation — a legal process under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — to study whether importing copper hurts U.S. national security. It does not itself impose any tariffs or restrictions; it starts a study that could lead to them.
Commerce must now examine imports of copper in every form — raw mined copper, concentrates, refined copper, alloys, scrap, and finished copper products. The investigation is required to look at nine specific factors, including domestic demand from defense and energy sectors, how much U.S. mining and refining can actually supply, reliance on a small number of foreign suppliers, foreign subsidies and price-dumping, and whether tariffs or quotas are needed. Commerce must consult the Secretaries of Defense, the Interior, and Energy, and has 270 days from the order to send the President a report. That report must state whether copper import dependence threatens national security and recommend responses, which could include tariffs, export controls, or incentives to boost U.S. production. The order notes the U.S. has large copper reserves but weak smelting/refining capacity, and states that one foreign producer controls over 50 percent of global smelting capacity and four of the top five refining facilities.
The immediate obligations fall on federal agencies — Commerce runs the investigation, and Defense, Interior, and Energy must assist. Copper miners, smelters, refiners, recyclers, importers, and industries that buy copper (defense, construction, clean energy, electric vehicles, electronics) could be affected later depending on what the report recommends and whether the President acts on it. The order explicitly creates no legal rights for any private party and does not change any rules on its own.