Feb 20 (Reuters) - Canadian uranium miner and producer

Cameco ( CCJ ) says prices for U.S. customers could rise by 10%

if President Trump's tariffs are implemented, weighing heavily

on the country that relies primarily on imports of the ore.

Executives on the company's earnings call also said they

could look to diversify away from the U.S. to opportunities in

other markets, as they have done with new customers in Central

and Eastern Europe.

Trump looks to slap 10% tariffs on any energy imports from

Canada from March 4.

For the U.S., in 2023, Canada was the largest source of

uranium, supplying 27%, followed closely by Australia and

Kazakhstan with 22% of deliveries each, according to data from

the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"A 10% proposed tariff from a major supply source like

Canada will effectively raise the uranium price by 10% because

if you think about it, U.S. domestic demand is inelastic for

contracted volumes," said Grant Isaac, chief financial officer

at Cameco ( CCJ ), adding that it would also push other non-tariff

countries to simply increase their offer prices by as much.

"The assumption that North America as a free trade zone is

probably over - our neighbor to the south has discovered the

hammer in the toolbox, which is tariffs," he added.

Cameco ( CCJ ) also said this allowed the company to look to markets

that don't threaten trade action.

"I think the U.S. puts these threats out at the peril to the

security of their supply, which then goes back to my original

point that this isn't very consistent with an energy dominant

strategy," Isaac added.