Trump Signs Proclamation Granting U.S. Primary Copper Smelting Two Years of Relief from EPA Rule
On October 24, 2025, at the White House in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump signed a Proclamation granting two years of regulatory relief from a stringent Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency rule on primary copper smelting, an industry the White House called vital to national security and economic resilience. Under the Proclamation, the stationary source named in it may comply, for two years, with the EPA standards that were in place before the Biden Administration rulemakings.
The White House said the exemption ensures the copper smelting facility can continue to operate uninterrupted to support national security, without incurring substantial costs to comply with unattainable requirements. The fact sheet says the Biden-era emissions standard imposes costly and unattainable compliance requirements on copper smelting, because the technologies necessary to comply do not yet exist in commercially viable or cost-effective forms.
The White House also said only two primary copper smelters remain in operation in the United States, and that imposing the standard on an already strained domestic industry risks accelerating further closures, weakening the nation's industrial base and mineral independence, and increasing reliance on foreign-controlled processing capacity. Without the relief, it said, the United States faces grid instability, loss of domestic semiconductor inputs, and greater dependence on adversarial nations.
The fact sheet also noted that Trump had used Section 232 authorities to impose a universal 50% tariff on copper imports, and had previously granted two years of similar regulatory relief to other sectors vital to national security, including coal plants, taconite iron ore processing facilities, and certain chemical manufacturers. (Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国犹他州 Garfield 铜冶炼厂的烟囱航拍资料图，该厂是美国现存两座原生铜冶炼厂之一；白宫公告未点名获得宽限的设施，此图不冒充公告点名设施。CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Aerial file photo of the smelter stack at the Garfield copper smelter in Utah, one of the two primary copper smelters operating in the United States; the White House proclamation did not name the facility granted relief, and this photo is not presented as that facility. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
