U.S. President Donald Trump has overturned a Biden-era environmental regulation that placed tighter limits on emissions from copper smelters, citing the need to safeguard America’s industrial base and mineral independence.
The air pollution rule, finalized in May 2024, required copper smelters to significantly reduce harmful emissions such as lead, arsenic, mercury, benzene, and dioxins under updated federal clean air standards.
In a proclamation issued on Friday, October 24, 2025, President Trump announced a two-year exemption for affected facilities, arguing that the measure would “support American mineral security” by easing regulatory pressures on the domestic copper industry.
“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.
The order specifically referenced the two copper smelters operating in the United States—one run by Freeport-McMoRan and the other by Rio Tinto. The proclamation confirmed that the exemption applies to Freeport’s smelter, though it remains unclear whether Rio Tinto’s facility will also benefit. Both companies have yet to issue a statement in response.
The reversal comes amid broader efforts by the Trump administration to bolster U.S. mineral production and reduce dependency on imports. Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order declaring copper a critical material for national defense, infrastructure, and emerging technologies such as clean energy and electric vehicles.
That order triggered a Section 232 investigation to assess whether copper imports pose a threat to U.S. national security. Following the review, the administration imposed a 50% tariff on certain imported copper and directed that an increasing share of high-quality U.S.-produced scrap copper be sold domestically to strengthen the nation’s supply chain resilience.
