LONDON: Copper and other base metals slipped on Wednesday on fears of slower demand due to renewed US-China trade tensions and worries about slowing growth in top metals consumer China.
A source familiar with the matter said Washington plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods after initially setting them at 10 percent, escalating the dispute between the world's two biggest economies.
Investors also were disappointed after reports that a recent Chinese politburo meeting was less dovish than expected regarding monetary and fiscal easing, said Carsten Menke, commodities analyst at Julius Baer in Zurich.
"I think the market is reacting in a sense that it's not expecting a full-fledged easing in China, but more of a gradual easing and this has reversed some of the hopes that have been priced into copper during this very recent recovery."
Also weighing on sentiment was data showing that China's manufacturing sector grew at the slowest pace in eight months in July as export orders declined.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 2.1 percent at $6,169 a tonne by 1005 GMT, after falling 4.9 percent in July, but recently rebounding from a one-year low of $5,988 touched on July 19.
CHINA DATA: The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 50.8 in July from June's 51.0, matching economists' forecast and a November 2017 level.
ESCONDIDA: Investors seemed to brush off news about labour unrest in Chile. The union at Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, said that an early, partial vote count on a final contract offer suggests its members will reject the offer and approve a strike.
CASERONES: The main union at Chile's Caserones mine has rejected operator Lumina Copper's final contract offer and workers have approved strike action, the union's president said.
RUSAL: Aluminium fell 0.8 percent to $2,064 a tonne after the US Treasury said it had extended a deadline for investors to divest holdings in Russia's Rusal, which has been hit by US sanctions, to Oct. 23 from Aug. 5.
ZINC: LME zinc fell 2.1 percent to $2,570,50 a tonne. The speculative net short position has declined to 22 percent of open interest from a peak of 29 percent on July 17, broker Marex Spectron said in a note.
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