London copper edges lower as US tariff unease weighs

NEW DELHI, March 28 (Reuters) - Copper prices in London edged down on Friday and headed for weekly losses, as unease over looming U.S. tariffs weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metals Exchange (LME) eased 0.05% to $9,842 metric ton, as of 0231 GMT. For the week, prices were down 0.1%.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a probe into potential tariffs on copper imports to rebuild U.S. production of the metal.

Markets are also on edge about Trump's pledge to announce sweeping new tariffs next week. He already said 25% levies on imported cars would take effect on April 3.

"We also believe that higher U.S. tariffs and a more general move away from global trade will damage world economic prospects, helping to undermine base metals demand in the year ahead," said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.

Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 was down 0.2% to $2,557 a ton, lead CMPB3 added 0.1% to $2,043, zinc inched 0.02% lower to $2,899, tin CMSN3 declined 0.2% to $35,210, while nickel CMNI3 gained 0.7% to $16,355 a ton.

SHFE copper SCFcv1 slid 1.2% to 80,630 yuan ($11,103.46) a ton, SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 fell 1.06% to 20,565 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 dropped 1.14% to 23,845 yuan, lead SPBcv1 eased 0.8% to 17,480 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 gained 0.9% to 131,420 yuan and tin SSNcv1 rose 0.2% to 280,720 yuan.

($1 = 7.2617 Chinese yuan)

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