Copper Soars After Trump Unveils Tariff Plan
Copper’s 13% surge today propelled it decisively above a critical resistance zone that has capped gains for several years, likely marking the start of a new bull market.
Longtime readers know that while my main focus in this newsletter is precious metals, I often analyze copper as well. That’s because I’m bullish on commodities overall — and copper, along with gold, plays a significant role in influencing silver prices. Over the past year, I’ve maintained a bullish stance on copper, publishing detailed articles in December and February outlining my thesis.
After a strong run since the start of the year, today we saw a dramatic turning point: President Trump announced plans for a 50% tariff on copper imports as part of a broader package of tariffs. This news sent U.S. COMEX copper futures soaring 13% to a record high, triggering the major technical breakout I’ve been anticipating. Let’s dive into the charts to understand this move, explore what might come next, and discuss the likely implications for silver.
For much of the past year, I’ve highlighted the critical $5.00 to $5.20 resistance zone as the key “line in the sand” to watch — the level that would signal copper’s move into uncharted territory. With today’s powerful surge, copper has decisively broken through this zone on strong volume, providing solid confirmation of the breakout. This is an extremely bullish development and a strong indication that further gains are likely ahead, as I’ll detail in this update.
The weekly chart of copper clearly illustrates the significance of the $5.00 to $5.20 resistance zone, which was defined by a series of price peaks in March 2022, May 2024, and March 2025. Today’s breakout has propelled copper into "blue sky" territory, marking new all-time highs. For a deeper understanding of how support and resistance zones are formed and how to identify them, I encourage you to read my recent two-part series on the topic (part 1, part 2).