Trump orders copper tariffs probe, healthcare price transparency

US President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into US copper imports in the first step toward potential tariffs on the metal, and signed another order for healthcare price transparency.

The imposition of tariffs or other barriers on copper could fuel trade tensions with Chile, the biggest US supplier accounting for about 35 percent of imports, as well as Canada.

Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday tasking his commerce secretary with studying copper imports in order to end "unfair trade."

"Tariffs will help build back our American Copper Industry, and strengthen our National Defense," Trump said on his Truth Social platform shortly after the signing.

"Our great American copper industry has been decimated by global actors attacking our domestic production," said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a statement.

"To build back our copper industry, I will investigate the imposition of possible tariffs," Lutnick added.

The world's biggest economy has been increasingly dependent on copper imports to meet domestic consumption needs.

Lutnick said Tuesday: "It's time for copper to come home."

US officials did not commit to a deadline for the investigation or potential tariff rate.

The probe will take place under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the same tool used to justify steep tariff hikes on steel and aluminium imports previously.

Healthcare price transparency order

In another executive order, Trump ordered the improvement of price transparency on healthcare costs by directing federal agencies to strictly enforce a 2019 order he signed during his first term.

The order directs the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services to within 90 days come up with a framework to enforce Trump's 2019 executive order forcing health insurers and hospitals to disclose healthcare cost details.

This includes requiring the disclosure of actual prices, not estimates, updating existing guidance or proposing new regulations that ensure price information is standardised, and updating or issuing enforcement policies that guarantee compliance.

"You're not allowed to even talk about it when you're going to a hospital or see a doctor. And this allows you to go out and talk about it," Trump told reporters as he signed the order. "It's been unpopular in some circles because people make less money, but it's great for the patient."

Trump's initial 2019 order required hospitals to maintain a consumer-friendly display of pricing information for up to 300 shoppable services and a machine-readable file with negotiated rates for every single service a hospital provides.