Three-month futures climbed to $11,200 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, topping a previous peak set in 2024. Year-to-date, the metal that’s an industrial staple and a proxy for global growth is up more than a quarter, and is on course for its best year since 2017. It’s been a tumultuous year for the commodity, with setbacks at major mines in Chile, Africa and Indonesia throttling global supplies, while US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have caused extreme price distortions between the US and the global benchmark set on the LME.

One would be forgiven for wondering how the hell this is a political story.

(Bloomberg) – Copper hit a record high in London, with the prospect of an imminent easing in US-China tensions providing a fresh catalyst to a scorching rally built on mine-supply setbacks and tariff-driven trade dislocations.

So, it’s tariffs exacerbating physical fundamentals. Good thing we haven’t had much use for copper since the Late Bronze Age.

Also, it’s hilarious to me that Bloomberg’s site is paywalled, but Yahoo reposts in nearly real time. Perhaps this is the first useful thing Yahoo has done since … um … damn, I thought I had something.