Renewed U.S.-China trade tensions underline supply challenges in copper markets, as the AI boom, increased defense spending and energy transition look set to turbo-charge demand for the metal over the next decade. Matt Chamberlain, CEO of the London Metal Exchange, said the recent spat between the U.S. and China over rare earth minerals offers key lessons for the copper market. Chamberlain told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" that supply tightness had pushed spot prices in a number of metals markets — including copper — above the corresponding three-month futures prices in recent days, suggesting a short-term supply squeeze, a "backwardation" which reverses prevailing market consensus. "The market consensus is that there absolutely is a medium-term demand driver," Chamberlain said Tuesday. "You

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