World Business Report: Copper prices are hitting record highs, and here is what Artem Volynets thinks about that

Prices in the U.S. have reached record highs this week, and one major reason is former President Donald Trump’s recent threat to impose a 50% tariff on copper imports. That announcement has sent ripples through the market, raising alarms among industry leaders and global investors.

To get some clarity on what this all means, World Business Report’s Andrew Peach spoke with Artem Volynets, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ACG Metals. And according to Mr. Volynets, while the headlines are dramatic, the real story is deeper and global.

“Copper is a global business,” Volynets said. “Its prices cannot be easily manipulated by one particular market participant because you have a well-diversified set of end users.”

Unlike metals like nickel or cobalt, copper serves a broad range of industries: construction, power grids, defense, and now increasingly, AI data centers and robotics. That diversity makes it a stable but sensitive market.

On the supply side, Chile dominates, producing nearly a quarter of the world’s copper. But it’s not just one company or country dictating the prices. “No single company accounts for more than 10–11% of global supply,” Mr. Volynets pointed out.

So what’s really driving the price spike?

“It’s a short term volatility and uncertainty,” Mr. Volynets explained. In such circumstances, investors become hesitant. Building a new copper mine can take 10 to 30 years from exploration to production. When there’s political instability, those decisions get delayed.

Tariffs like the one Trump is proposing add complexity and cost. Mr. Volynets warned that these costs don’t stay in the boardroom, they show up in higher prices for consumers and taxpayers, and they come with real risks such as delaying investments, raising costs, and adding instability to an already stretched global supply chain.

Copper is more than just a metal, it’s a revealing indicator for how global economic policy, technology growth, and geopolitical moves interact. And as Mr. Volynets explained, the true value of copper lies not only in its extraction, but in the ability to leverage it for building the infrastructure of the future.