METALS-Copper climbs as market braces for potential Trump tariffs

(Updates with prices at 1705 GMT) By Pratima Desai LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose on Monday as traders bought to ship to the United States, where President Donald Trump is threatening to impose tariffs on imports of the industrial metal. Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.9% at $9,944 a metric ton at 1705 GMT, after touching a session high of $10,044.50. Last week it hit $10,046.50, its highest since October 3. On COMEX, copper prices jumped to a record high HGK25 of $5.1845 per lb, about $11,430 a ton. Traders said movement of copper from the LME system to the U.S. can be seen in inventories held by warehouses in the exchange's network around the world. Copper stocks in LME warehouses have dropped 18% to 221,775 tons over the past four weeks. Cancelled warrants - metal earmarked for delivery - are at 50% of the total, suggesting a further 111,000 tons is due to leave LME warehouses. Last month Trump ordered an investigation into potential new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild U.S. production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods. Trump's tariffs are intended to encourage local production of metal, but permits can be difficult to obtain for these operations and smelter construction can take years. "The policy is intended to stimulate investment in the U.S. industrial base – boosting local production and conversion capacity," said Liberum analyst Tom Price. "Perhaps in several years, the industry may respond. For now though, it has no choice but to continue importing these metals – and somehow accept, or pass on, the trade’s new tariff cost." Traders said that a Bloomberg report saying commodity trader Mercuria was estimating that 500,000 tons of copper was heading to the U.S. was also driving up prices. Aluminium CMAL3 slipped 0.3% at $2,615 a ton, zinc CMZN3 gained 0.5% to $2,942, lead CMPB3 climbed 1.2% to $2,042 and tin CMSN3 retreated 0.6% to $34,275 while nickel CMNI3 eased 0.2% to $16,030. (Reporting by Pratima Desai; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey) ((pratima.desai@thomsonreuters.com)) (( For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview RING= COMEX copper futures 0#HG: All metals news MTL All commodities news C Foreign exchange rates FX= SPEED GUIDES LME/INDEX ))