In the middle of the growing tension between the US and China, President Donald Trump ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all US critical mineral imports on Tuesday.
It is important to note that China is a leading global producer of 30 out of 50 minerals considered critical in American geological survey and has recently limited to its exports.
Previously, several manufacturers, industrial consultants, academics, have mentioned that the US is too dependent on Beijing and others for processed versions of minerals. Trump’s new order mentions concerns and said that the US addiction on the import of minerals “increases the potential of risks for national security, defense readiness, price stability and economic prosperity and resistance”.
What does the order state?
According to the order, the Minister of Commerce Howard Lutnick is obliged to initiate a National Security Review pursuant to Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. The same law was used in the first term of Trump to store 25% of global tariffs on steel and aluminum. In February it was reused to start the probe into potential copper tariffs.
Lutnick will have to report to Trump’s findings, including whether to store tariffs in the next 3 months. After Trump’s report, the tariff will store the critical minerals of the nation, according to the White House, the Trump reciprocal tariffs would be replaced by Trump at the beginning of this month.
The review will be assessed by the vulnerability of the US for the processing of all critical minerals – including cobalt, nickel and 17 rare countries, as well as uranium – how foreign actors may be disrupting markets and what steps could be subjected to an increase in domestic offerings and recycling.
How does China threaten the US stiffness?
At the beginning of this month, Beijing placed export restrictions on rare soils in response to Trump’s tariffs, which is a step that has further aggravated fears to supplies between Trump officials.
Rare soils are a group of 17 elements used in the defense, electric vehicle, energy and electronics industry. The United States has only one mine of rare countries and most of its processed supplies come from China.
Restrictions from China were considered the latest demonstration of the country’s ability to arm its dominance over the mining and processing of critical minerals after bringing direct bans on the export of three other metals to the US last year and export controls to others slapped.
In recent years, Chinese mining companies have been flooding markets with cheap stocks of many critical minerals in recent years and have supported calls from Industry and Investors for Washington to support American projects.
How does Trump push us to start our own production and processing?
The US is currently extracting and processing a modest amount of lithium, they have only one nickel mine, but no nickel melter and have no cobalt mine or refinery. Although it has several copper mines, the US has only two copper melts and depends on other countries to process key red metals.
The new order is part of Trump’s pressure to increase the production and processing of US minerals. Last month, he signed an order requested by federal agencies to indicate below that could be quickly monitored and federal soil for mineral processing.
However, building new mines and devices lasts years and aroused worries about where Theus could get minerals
(Tagstotranslate) Donald Trump
