Melbourne - Executives
from BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, met with President-elect Donald
Trump for talks on the industry, as the incoming administration’s pledges to
boost infrastructure spending lift metals and producers.
Chief Executive
Officer Andrew Mackenzie and Chairman Jacques Nasser met Tuesday in New
York with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence to discuss subjects
including the resources sector and BHP’s investments in the US, according to a
statement Wednesday from the Melbourne-based company.
Mackenzie told
investors at a November meeting that BHP hoped Trump’s administration would
honor commitments by the US to global climate change accords, while Nasser
warned at the meeting over risks of any move by the president-elect to impose
large tariffs on Chinese imports. The company declined to immediately provide
details of specific issues discussed in Tuesday’s talks.
Read also: BHP Billiton faces rating risk
BHP is the
largest overseas investor in US shale, has offshore oil and gas assets in the
Gulf of Mexico and is a partner with Rio Tinto Group in a copper project in
Arizona. London-based Rio is seeking talks with Trump’s administration, CEO
Jean-Sebastien Jacques said last month in Melbourne.
Miners’ boost
Trump’s signals
that he could spend billions of dollars to rebuild US infrastructure lifted
metals and producers in the wake of his election, promising to bolster global
demand and add to a commodities price revival driven in 2016 by stimulus in
China. The Bloomberg World Mining Index has advanced about 4.6 percent since
Trump’s victory in November, while the London Metal Exchange Index of six key
metals jumped about 6 percent.
BHP stock rose
2.6 percent in Sydney on Wednesday to the highest close since December 13.
While Trump has
promised to build roads, bridges and airports, the US remains a smaller metals
consumer and less reliant on imports than China. A 10 percent surge in US
copper demand would be equivalent to just a 1.5 percent gain in consumption in
China, the world’s number 1 user of commodities, UBS Group estimates.
Trump’s
spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed BHP executives were among those to hold
meetings Tuesday with the incoming administration.