US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Apr 15) ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all US critical minerals imports, a major escalation in his dispute with global trade partners and an attempt to push back on industry leader China.
The order lays bare what manufacturers, industry consultants, academics and others have long warned Washington about: That the US is overly reliant on Beijing and others for processed versions of the minerals that power its entire economy.
China is a top global producer of 30 of the 50 minerals considered critical by the US Geological Survey, for example, and has been curtailing exports in recent months.
Trump signed an order directing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to begin a national security review under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. That is the same law Trump used in his first term to impose 25 per cent global tariffs on steel and aluminium and one he used in February to launch a probe into potential copper tariffs.
US dependency on minerals imports “raises the potential for risks to national security, defence readiness, price stability, and economic prosperity and resilience”, Trump said in the order.
Within 180 days, Lutnick is required to report his findings to the president, including whether to impose tariffs. Were Trump to then impose a tariff on a nation’s critical minerals, the rate would supersede the reciprocal tariffs Trump imposed earlier this month, according to the White House.
The review will assess US vulnerabilities for the processing of all critical minerals – including cobalt, nickel and the 17 rare earths, as well as uranium – how foreign actors could be distorting markets, and what steps could be taken to boost domestic supply and recycling, according to the order.
The US currently extracts and processes scant amounts of lithium, has only one nickel mine but no nickel smelter, and has no cobalt mine or refinery. While it has several copper mines, the US has only two copper smelters and is reliant on other nations to process that key red metal.
The order takes a broad view of processing as all the steps after rock is taken out of the ground and where they are done. It also directs a review of US capabilities to produce so-called semi-finished goods, including battery cathodes and wind turbines.
