Open any trade headline on metals this year and you will find a wall going up. India has put a three-year safeguard duty on steel. The United States is planning a copper tariff. Europe is charging carbon at its border. China controls the export of rare

Old Kolkata traders remember octroi, the tax charged when goods crossed a city boundary. Europe has built a modern version, and it does not tax weight or value. It taxes the carbon released while your metal was made. This is the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism,

The copper price in 2026 is the highest in the history of the London Metal Exchange. LME cash copper stood near $14,413 a tonne on 23 October, and on MCX the same metal traded around ₹1,387 a kg. A year ago, a $12,000 print was news.

What exactly ends on 10 November? In October 2025, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) widened its rare earth rules. It added five elements (holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium) and brought in controls on related technology. It also introduced an extraterritorial rule that reached products made