U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday overturned a 2024 air pollution rule introduced under the Biden administration that had imposed stricter emission limits on copper smelters.
The regulation, finalised in May 2024, required smelters to reduce the release of toxic pollutants such as lead, arsenic, mercury, benzene and dioxins in compliance with updated federal air quality standards.
Trump’s proclamation grants a two-year exemption from compliance for affected facilities, which the White House said would ease regulatory burdens and strengthen America’s mineral security by supporting domestic copper production.
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“Imposing these requirements on such a limited and already strained domestic industry risks accelerating further closures, weakening the nation’s industrial base, undermining mineral independence, and increasing reliance on foreign-controlled processing capacity,” the White House said in a statement announcing the decision.
The proclamation cited the two copper smelters currently operating in the United States — one run by Freeport-McMoRan and the other by Rio Tinto. It stated that the exemption would apply to Freeport’s facility, though it was unclear how Rio Tinto’s operations would be affected. Both companies declined to comment.
Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order designating copper as a critical material for national defence, infrastructure, and emerging technologies such as clean energy and electric vehicles.
That move prompted a Section 232 investigation to assess whether copper imports pose a threat to U.S. national security due to dependence on a limited number of foreign suppliers. Following the review, the administration imposed a 50% tariff on certain imported copper and required that an increasing share of high-grade scrap copper produced domestically be sold within the United States.
