According to CoinMeta, tariffs are expected to fuel the upward trend, with the price of LME copper soaring to a record high on the London Metal Exchange. The benchmark three-month copper futures price rose by 0.8% to $14,533 per ton, breaking the record set in January. Over the past year, copper prices have risen by 17% in total. Affected by a long-term mismatch between supply and demand, large, aging mines around the world are struggling to keep up with the consumption demands of data centers, renewable energy, and power grids. Short-term factors have become a focus, especially the hundreds of thousands of tons of copper being shipped to the United States by traders in order to profit from the higher prices there. The market is still taking into account the possibility that Trump will expand U.S. tariffs on refined metal imports.