Boric about Trump and his commercial war: «The law of the strongest has short legs»

The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, said in an interview with Efe that his government «is preparing» in case the United States finally decides to impose a copper tariff, the main Chilean export, but said that the commercial war «is not sustainable» and that «the law of the strongest has short legs.»

«If copper tariffs were imposed, it would be very bad news, first for the inhabitants of the United States, because they do not have it to replace it overnight, but it would effectively be a blow to Chile,» the ruler acknowledged.

The southern country, which is the largest copper producer in the world, exported in 2024 more than 50.8 billion dollars of this essential material, mainly to China (51.3 %), United States (11.3 %) and Japan (11.1 %), according to the Chilean Central Bank.

Under the premise of national security, the US president, Donald Trump, announced on February 25 the beginning of an investigation to determine whether the high dependence on copper imports represents a risk for his country and, if so, take measures to restrict them.

Trump has already imposed tariffs of 25 % this week to all imports of steel and aluminum with the objective of reactivating the national industry.

«We have seen the irrationality with which decisions are made at this time (in the United States). You have to be prepared for that, but what we are not going to do is go to pay printedness or please do not do so, ”said Boric, who created at the end of January an interministerial commission to follow up on the commercial war unleashed by Trump.

«A circus of surprises»

Chile sent 5,600 million dollars of copper to the United States last year, which entered the North American market with a 0 % tariff under the current Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries since 2003.

The Chilean president indicated that his government is already looking for alternative copper buyers to the United States and that in the coming months he will travel with that goal to India and Japan. «We cannot put all the eggs in the same basket,» he said.

«What we want is to respect the international agreements that we have signed and, if not, we will resort to all the multilateral instances that are within our reach,» Boric warned, who praised the «tremendously worthy» way with which his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, is dealing with the commercial war.

He also said that he shares «both the statements and the responses of the European Union» -this this week applied tariffs worth 26,000 million euros as a replica to the «unjustified» steel and aluminum tariffs -said that politics cannot be «a circus of surprises» and added that this only «is good when it is predictable.»

«I think the law of the strongest (referring to Trump) has short legs. It can generate a lot of damage, they have said it everywhere, but (the commercial war) is not sustainable, ”he added.

Protect Antarctica against exploitation

On the possibility that Trump puts his eyes in Antarctica for his enormous wealth in raw materials, as he has done with Groelandia, Boric recalled that the treaty that governs the frozen continent since 1959 establishes that no country owns the territory and that any exploitation is prohibited.

«The Chilean State Policy is to protect Antarctics as a territory of science and peace, and not make the continent a competition for bursting natural resources,» he said.

Boric is one of the Chilean presidents who has traveled to Antarctic more times – in January he became the first to reach the South Pole – and repeatedly urged the international community to protect it, since it is a «defense wall» against the climatic emergency and reserve of three quarters of the sweet water of the planet.

«While I am in public life, I will defend Antarctica, because it is also a large world -climate regulator. What happens in Antarctica does not stay in Antarctica and it is important that everyone understands it, ”he concluded.

On the Antarctic territory and its supposed mining treasures, in which its Chinese eyes also have positions, it hangs the threat of a possible reform of the treaty that regulates it, since from 2048, any of the 29 states that are advisory parts of the Pact may request its review. EFE