Reuters World News - Copper, critical minerals, 'Trump effect' and SCOTUS

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump broadens his trade war, slapping a 50% tariff on copper. The White House's 'Trump Effect' website takes credit for investment made before his term began. We look at how U.S. buyers of critical minerals can bypass China’s export ban. And the Supreme Court has cleared the way for Trump to pursue mass federal layoffs. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, the Supreme Court gives the green light for Trump to resume mass layoffs of government workers. The president broadens the trade war announcing big new tariffs on copper, and how some companies are bypassing China's ban on critical rare earths. It's Wednesday, July 9th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Kim Vennel in Wonganui, News. First, the headlines. The death toll from the floods in Texas has passed 100, with more than 180 people now

declared missing. Many of those killed are children. We're not happy with Putin. I'm not happy with Putin. I can tell you that much right now. President Donald Trump showing his frustration with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, as he approves the shipment of more defensive weapons to Ukraine. Trump also says he's considering additional sanctions on Moscow.

The Supreme Court has ruled the Trump administration can restart its mass layoffs of government employees. The decision could lead to tens of thousands of job cuts and consolidates Trump's power as president. Tim Reid is our National Affairs correspondent. While they did not say whether or not the mass firings of government workers was actually legal, they skipped that question. They still are allowing Trump to proceed. How does this affect the president's attempts to expand or cement? his authority? This is very much a part of that. And just in the last week or so, Trump has been helped by the Supreme Court in several rulings, which have essentially expanded the power of the

executive branch, the power of the presidency. There was another ruling a few days ago when the Supreme Court said that lower court judges, district court judges, for example, who, until now, if they ruled moved by Trump to be unconstitutional in their jurisdiction, they could impose an entire injunction on a Trump policy for the whole country. That's now come to an end. So Trump has had a very good week in terms of expanding his power and consolidating the power of the presidency. President Trump is broadening his trade war,

announcing a huge new tariff on a crucial imported metal. What would that tariff be on? I believe the tariff on copper are going to make it 50%. Copper is used for everything from electric vehicles to military hardware to many consumer goods,

but anything being imported into the US will face a 50% levy. All this just a few weeks out from his self-imposed trade deal deadline. Lewis Jackson is in Beijing. Lewis, what does this mean for consumers?

So it's a massive deal. Copper is in everything. You know, the wiring in your house, in your phone, in your blender, in your car, it's enormous. And this is just going to push up costs for people who use copper in the United States. The US imports roughly half the copper it uses. So if you are a manufacturer who uses copper and you get it from overseas, well, you're looking at much higher prices now. And that's a big deal because the manufacturing renaissance that, you know, this US administration wants to spark will. rely on copper and they've just put a 50% tariff on it. Now it's important to note that there are

copper producers in the United States who, you know, for them this is great news. You know, they've got the production there. They can sell into the U.S. market where prices are going to be higher. But the reality is there's lots of copper the U.S. needs and it takes a long time to set up the mines, build the smelters, get that entire copper supply chain shifted to the U.S. It will take years. While the world's copper exporters are in wait and sea mode after Trump's tariff bombshell, US importers of some critical minerals have found a trade war loophole. Reuters is exclusively reporting how US companies are bypassing China's ban on some of those mineral exports,

specifically antimony and gallium, which are crucial for semiconductors and military technology. These minerals are going via third countries to get to the US sometimes at record levels. Lewis Jackson also worked on this story and tells us China has launched a campaign against these moves, citing threats to national security. Alessandro Perodi worked with him on the story. Alessandro, how is this bypass working? Well, there are different ways this happens, but one we've seen is that, let's say, for example, a buyer in, in China buys the product and in agreement with a supply with a freight forwarder or with a shipper they changed the label of this product in order not to raise any suspicion in with

Chinese custom and for example they re-label it as art supplies or zinc or some other mineral and then the product leaves China and is not directly going to the US so it may go to another country like Thailand to Mexico and there are There are lots of countries in Southeast Asia where some of these products go. And then from there, the product has shipped again. So it's trans-shipped through these countries. And then ultimately it reaches the US. As the trade deal deadline, we talked about earlier, looms.

Nations are hustling to strike a deal and avoid the harshest levies. President Trump says he'll announce something trade-related concerning at least seven countries later this morning. and more in the afternoon. Although he didn't say in his social media post whether that would be deal announcements or notices of further tariffs. The administration says its trade policy is already pushing nations and companies

to invest more in the US. There's even a White House website called the Trump effect that lists investments made during the president's second term. Our White House reporter, Jared Renshaw, has been looking into the claims. Trump was saying that he attracted $14 trillion worth of investment.

which is about half of the nation's GDP. So you start with that premise and you start looking, well, how does he come up with these $14 trillion? And what we found is that there's about 70 or so projects on the list, totaling something around $2.6 trillion, which is well short of the $14 trillion. So we looked at those projects. And what we found was there was about half of the spending, $1.3 trillion, either originated prior to his coming office or in cases like Apple and Eli, Lilly, were just really just typical spending. These companies are huge companies, spend a lot of money in U.S. investments. And they just repackaged those investments to highlight their domestic spending

and caught the attention of the White House added to the list with really no evidence that Trump inspired the spending. And Trump's taking credit for projects within three months of taking office. You can't find any piece of evidence that Trump had anything to do with those projects. The White House says the final. investment decisions on these projects were announced under his watch and prove his economic policies are triggering US investment. Liverpool Football Club's Diogo Jota was probably speeding when he crashed his Lamborghini in northwestern Spain, killing him and his brother, police say.

The forensics team is analysing the marks left by one of the car's wheels on the asphalt that suggest a blown tire. Spanish authorities are ordering more than 18,000 residents and parts of Catalonia to remain indoors as a wildfire rages out of control, consuming more than 7,000 acres. Several dozen residents were evacuated and large parts of Spain are on high alert after the country experienced its hottest June on record. And for today's recommended read, a Reuters exclusive. Finland and Lithuania look set to start producing anti-personnel landmines. They follow Ukraine in planning to pull out of the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of mines.

Their move comes because of what they see as the threat from Russia. There's a link to that story in today's pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Royters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.