Donald Trump discusses new surcharges of 200% on pharmaceutical products and 50% on copper

US President Donald Trump showed on Tuesday, July 8, that he has no intention of softening his customs policy , saying he wants to impose new surcharges, this time on imported pharmaceutical products and copper.

Responding to questions from journalists during the Cabinet meeting, the head of state said he was considering imposing a 200% surcharge on pharmaceutical products . He added that he would wait at least a year to implement it, to give companies time to build factories on American soil .

For copper, it will be 50%, he said, without giving a specific deadline. In the wake of this, the price of this metal soared by more than 10% in New York, surpassing its historic peak.

Since returning to the White House in January, the Republican billionaire has made tariffs a central part of his economic policy: a negotiating lever to obtain concessions from abroad, a means of defending domestic industry, and a source of new public revenue.

It has already introduced specific customs duties on certain sectors (50% on steel and aluminum, 25% on automobiles) and a minimum surcharge of 10% on most products entering the United States.

He plans to raise this surcharge starting August 1 to further penalize exports from dozens of countries that have a trade surplus with the United States. "There will be no change of date" and "no extension will be granted," Trump assured Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.

The American president began sending letters on Monday to US trading partners, primarily in Asia, to announce their fate. Fourteen countries have now learned the amount of the surcharge he has planned for them: from +25% (Japan, South Korea, and Tunisia in particular) to +40% (Laos and Burma), including +36% (Cambodia and Thailand).

Among the four non-Asian countries receiving the letter, South Africa is targeted with a 30% surcharge. Its President, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced in a statement Tuesday that he would "continue diplomatic efforts" with Washington. He is particularly concerned about the impact on local citrus production.

More letters will be sent "today, tomorrow, and in the coming days," President Trump warned Tuesday on Truth Social. He then said during the Council of Ministers that the European Union (EU) would receive its letter "probably within two days." According to him, the bloc of 27 European countries has been behaving "very nicely" lately.

The initial planned start date for the individualized surcharges was July 9, but Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday pushing it back to August 1. In his letters, Donald Trump assured that any response would be met with an additional surcharge of the same magnitude.