London aluminium traded in a tight range on Monday as investors weighed risks of a major global trade war after US President Donald Trump said he was set to impose new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports.
Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) edged up 0.2% to $2,633.5 a metric ton by 0745 GMT.
The aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) was 0.3% higher at 20,550 yuan a ton, after hitting its highest level since early December 2024 on Friday.
On Sunday, Trump said he would introduce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the United States, which would come on top of existing metals duties, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.
Trump said he would announce reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately, applying them to all countries and matching the rates levied by each country.
Australia’s trade minister said the country’s steel and aluminium exports to the United States create “good paying American jobs” and are key to shared defence interests, as Canberra presses Washington for an exemption to the planned tariffs.
“While steel and aluminium appear to account for a larger share of US imports from Taiwan, Korea and India, we estimate the exposure to be only around 5% of their shipments to the US, at most,” Barclays said in a note.
LME copper fell 0.1% to $9,402 a ton, zinc rose 0.1% to $2,842, tin gained 0.1% to $31,145, lead was steady at $1,993.5, and nickel was up 0.2% at $15,790.
SHFE copper gained 0.8% to 77,370 yuan, nickel firmed 0.4% to 127,680 yuan, zinc held steady at 23,805 yuan, lead gained 0.4% to 17,160 yuan and tin rose 0.3% to 259,000 yuan.
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