Power grid construction firms assess impacts from US tariffs on copper

The limited scope of tariffs on copper announced by President Donald Trump has surprised the metals trading market, and is still being assessed for any effects on electric utility transmission and distribution investments.

A few companies that supply and install cables and transmission lines for electric utilities mentioned the tariffs during earnings calls July 30 and 31, as the change from what was expected by the White House was being sorted out. Executives at Quanta Services and Nexans told financial analysts that utility company investments in transmission and distribution investments are strong.

The types of copper products to which Trump applied the 50% tariff on July 30 were less in scope than the metals sector anticipated. According to a list in an annex accompanying a July 30 proclamation outlining the tariff, the White House targeted 51 specific semi-finished copper products, like insulated electric conductors and copper pipe fittings. The tariff took effect Aug. 1.

Excluded from the tariff was raw copper, the US' primary copper import. In the end, the Trump administration crafted a trade policy that hewed closely to what large copper producers and associations wanted, as described in comments they submitted to the government.

Electric utility trade groups had no immediate response to inquiries on the effects of copper tariffs.

At Prysmian, an Italian company that supplies cable and wires for utilities, telecom companies and commercial customers globally, CEO Massimo Battaini said the breadth of the tariffs softened the economic impact somewhat, but acknowledged that imports of low-, medium- and high-voltage cables from Korea, India and other nations will be penalized by 50% "not only to the copper content of the cable, but to the entire cable value."

During the company's first-half 2025 earnings call on July 31, Battaini said the cost of copper had increased leading up to the July 30 announcement from the White House, and "we will see in the coming weeks how this will come into play" for the company.

Prysmian's products include high-voltage, direct-current interconnectors, other underground cable systems, and fiber networks for telecom systems.

Like Prysmian, Quanta Services, a Houston-based firm which provides engineering, procurement and construction services for transmission lines; wind, solar, battery storage and hydrogen systems; and broadband networks, touted electricity demand growth and grid investments being made by electric utilities globally in its July 31 earnings release and call with analysts. Quanta in June was selected by Idaho Power for procurement and construction on the Boardman to Hemingway transmission line, a 500-kV line spanning 300 miles between eastern Oregon and southwest Idaho. Construction has begun, with full completion expected in late 2028, Quanta reported.

Nexans, a Paris-headquartered manufacturer of transmission cables with operations in the US, said many of its copper contracts were booked ahead of the White House announcement.

Exemption for exported cable

During the company's first-half 2025 earnings call on July 30, Nexans CEO Christopher Guerin said there is a tariff exemption for copper cable produced in the US that is exported, which is what the company will do for some European customers.

"So you get the copper from Canada, and you will have the exemption of the tariff because it's exported to Europe," Guerin said.

The US copper tariff leaves most copper imports untouched. The top two targets of the new duty by value are types of insulated electric conductors. Together, they comprised $7.37 billion worth of the targeted imports based on their 2024 import value. This was more than half the total value — $12.56 billion — of the targeted imports in 2024, according to an analysis of S&P Global Market Intelligence's Global Trade Analytics Suite data.

Focusing on copper-specific products, the tariffed items accounted for $4.72 billion, or 27.6%, of the 2024 import value of all copper products, including raw materials. This excludes the value of the electric conductors. Imports of refined copper, not facing tariffs, were valued at $8.61 billion in 2024, or almost double the value of the tariffed copper products, the White House said in an email to Platts, part of S&P Global Energy.