TORONTO, March 4 (Reuters) - Canadian miner Teck

has been developing plans to sell zinc to Asia

instead of the U.S. to circumvent tariffs from President Donald

Trump's administration on Canadian imports, CEO Jonathan Price

on Tuesday.

Teck, which sells most of its refined zinc to the U.S., has

been working on a contingency plan for months, Price told the

PDAC mining industry conference in Toronto.

"We have been reserving warehousing capacity, looking to

reserve space in ports to export the metals to Asia," Price said

"We will find buyers and prices will adjust."

The additional warehousing and port spaces would be in

Canada, a company representative said.

Trump's 25% tariffs on imports from Canada as well as Mexico

took effect on Tuesday, launching new trade conflicts with the

United States' three biggest trading partners. Economists expect

U.S. companies to bear the cost of those tariffs.

Teck produces about 260,000 metric tons of refined zinc

annually.

That equates to less than a third of total U.S. demand in

2024 when it stood at 848,000 metric tons, or 6% of the world's

total, according to the International Lead and Zinc Study Group

(ILZSG).

BNP Paribas estimates that the United States imports 62% of

its zinc needs, mainly from Canada and Mexico.

Price said he expects the tariffs to raise the cost of

commodities and drive inflation, and that "there is little

upside".

Vale Base Metals, the base metals spinoff of iron ore giant

Vale that sells Canada-produced nickel to the U.S., is also

looking to adapt to the tariffs, Vale Base Metals Chair Mark

Cutifani said.

"We are talking to everyone on this to see how this can be

resolved," he told reporters.