LONDON: Base metals saw a sharp sell-off on Friday, with copper on track for its biggest daily slide since the early days of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, as US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans sparked recession fears.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 5.9% to $8,812 per metric ton by 1349 GMT, after earlier hitting $8,747, its lowest since August 8. Over the last 15 years, copper, used in power and construction, saw a bigger daily fall only in March 2020, when the world grounded flights to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and in October 2011, during the Eurozone debt crisis. “Growth-dependent metals have a bit of a disaster at the moment, with fears that tariffs would cause recession,” said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.—Reuters