DOBDOB on Base Price

On September 10, Reuters reported that two sources indicated the White House has yet to make a decision regarding tariffs on refined copper. Officials are weighing the potential benefits of encouraging domestic mining against the possibility that rising copper prices could increase manufacturing costs. This hesitation comes as the government is increasingly focused on affordability issues ahead of the midterm elections in November, with Trump and Republican lawmakers under pressure to demonstrate that their economic policies are lowering rather than raising costs for American consumers and businesses. Anticipation of tariffs on refined copper products, such as cathode copper, and copper concentrates from mines has driven copper prices to record highs. Traders and industrial buyers are rushing to build inventories in the U.S. to stock up before new tariffs take effect, resulting in one of the largest copper stockpiles globally. A White House official stated that the government has not yet made a final decision on tariffs and confirmed that the Commerce Department had submitted the latest updates to Trump before the June 30 deadline set by the White House. The official said, 'The government continues to evaluate all options to bring copper and other key manufacturing back to the U.S.' These remarks suggest that tariffs are not a foregone conclusion, despite market expectations that the U.S. may expand existing tariffs to include refined copper.

On September 10, Reuters reported that two informed sources stated the White House has yet to make a decision regarding tariffs on refined copper. Officials are weighing the potential benefits of encouraging domestic mining against the possibility that rising copper prices could increase manufacturing costs. This hesitation comes as the government is increasingly focused on affordability issues ahead of the midterm elections in November, with Trump and Republican lawmakers under pressure to demonstrate that their economic policies are lowering, rather than raising, costs for American consumers and businesses. Anticipation of tariffs on refined copper products, such as cathode copper, and copper concentrates produced from mines has driven copper prices to record highs. Traders and industrial buyers are rushing to build inventories in the U.S. to stock up before the new tariffs take effect, resulting in one of the largest copper stockpiles globally. A White House official stated that the government has not yet made a final decision on tariffs and confirmed that the Department of Commerce submitted the latest updates to Trump before the June 30 deadline set by the White House. The official noted, "The government continues to evaluate all options to bring copper and other key manufacturing back to the U.S." These remarks suggest that tariffs are not a foregone conclusion, despite market expectations that the U.S. may expand existing tariffs to refined copper.

According to the latest economic scenario model from Anthropic, in the most extreme case, if AI can autonomously perform the majority of knowledge-based jobs and spread rapidly, the annual GDP growth rate in the U.S. could reach 15%, with the economy potentially doubling every 4.5 years. By 2030, the GDP could reach $44.4 trillion, which is 32.4% higher than a scenario without AI. Anthropic emphasizes that this is a conditional extreme scenario and not a prediction. Previously, Elon Musk provided an even more aggressive assessment, stating that the combination of AI and humanoid robots could lead to more than double the growth of the global economy within a decade, with mass production of humanoid robots being a crucial turning point. There is a clear alignment in their logic: Anthropic calculates the economic impact of large-scale automation of knowledge work by AI, while Musk extends AI capabilities to the physical world, believing that once humanoid robots are mass-produced, automation will expand from the digital realm to actual production processes. However, Anthropic clearly states that its current model does not include humanoid robots with super capabilities. A survey of 10,980 American respondents showed that the typical expectation corresponds to a GDP increase of about 10% by 2030 compared to a scenario without AI, with only about 10% of respondents providing estimates close to the extreme scenario.