NEW YORK, May 10 (Xinhua) — COMEX copper rose on Friday, despite uncertainties about the prospects for economic and trade negotiations between China and the United States.

The most active July copper contract rose 0.3 cents to settle at $2.7745 a pound.

Copper prices are sensitive to China’s economic activities, so in recent weeks, the popularity triggered by the Sino-US trade war has dominated the trend of copper prices.

China is the world’s largest consumer of metals, accounting for half of global copper demand.

At the beginning of this year, China and the United States are expected to reach a trade agreement, and China is taking measures to boost economic growth and push copper prices higher. However, in recent days, trade concerns between China and the United States have revived and copper prices have fallen under pressure.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that the US has raised tariffs on 200 billion US dollars of Chinese imports from 10% to 25%. China deeply regrets that it will have to take necessary counter-measures.

The eleventh round of high-level economic and trade consultation between China and the United States ended in Washington on October 10, local time. Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council and Chinese leader of the Sino-US Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, said in an interview after the consultation that the two sides had better communication and cooperation. The negotiations did not break down. On the contrary, they were only minor twists and turns in the negotiations between the two countries, which was inevitable. China was cautiously optimistic about the future of the negotiations.