Carbon tariffs hit snags while China shifts metals plan - Nov 27, 2025

As of November 27, today’s news features tighter scrutiny on Europe’s carbon border rules and fresh signals from China that could reshape supply dynamics in the metals market. Amendments aimed at closing loopholes allowing companies to circumvent the European Union's new carbon border tariff on their aluminium cannot realistically be implemented before 2028, the CEO of Norsk Hydro said today. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will place a carbon tax on aluminium and some other commodities like steel entering the European Economic Area from January to account for direct emissions generated during their production. Meanwhile, China's decision to shelve a series of planned copper smelters is unlikely to have an impact on historically tight markets unless it is followed by more measures to curb output in the world's largest refined copper producer, industry insiders said. The relentless growth of Chinese smelting capacity has increased global competition for copper concentrate feedstock at a time when stretched supplies have become scarcer still due to mine disruptions. Furthermore, copper prices experienced a decline influenced by a stronger dollar and disappointing data from China, which is the largest consumer of metals. The benchmark three-month copper price fell by 0.7% to 10,893.50 dollars per metric ton, following a spike to 11,025 dollars earlier in the week, fueled by expectations surrounding potential U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. In technology developments, prominent Chinese companies, including Alibaba and ByteDance, are reportedly training their artificial intelligence models abroad to leverage Nvidia chips and evade U.S. restrictions on high-tech commodities. This move has sparked an increase in offshore data center activity, as firms adapt to the changing regulatory landscape and chip access challenges. In a separate update, the French antitrust authority dismissed a complaint against Microsoft, filed by local search engine Qwant, which accused the tech giant of abusing its dominant position. The authority stated that the evidence provided was insufficient to support the claims., Meanwhile, in Italy, Monte Paschi announced that its CEO received notification of an investigation concerning alleged market manipulation and obstruction of supervisory functions, a situation the bank claims to be prepared to clarify through cooperation with the authorities. Lastly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that outline draft peace proposals discussed by the United States and Ukraine could become the basis of future agreements to end the conflict in Ukraine, but that if not Russia would fight on.