President Donald Trump ordered the Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin a national security investigation on critical imports from the United States, including rare earths and other vital substances.
“Critical minerals, including strange earth elements, in the form of processed minerals are essential raw materials and the critical production contributions necessary for economic and national security,” Trump, Trump, Trump, saying In his executive order on Tuesday.
Trump pointed out the “significant vulnerabilities of the global supply chain and market distortions” created by depending on “a small number of foreign suppliers” for these minerals.
“The United States dependence on imports and the vulnerability of our supply chains increases the risk potential for national security, defense preparation, prices stability and economic prosperity and resistance,” the executive order said.
In fact, the United States produces only an insignificant amount of its own minerals, despite having without exploiting resources in the field.
USA. manufacture Some lithium, which became the most popular of mineral products with the enormous thrust for the government towards electric vehicles (EV), but there is no national refining industry to speak or for metals such as nickel, cobalt and even copper. There are copper mines in the USA.
LOOKING – US REVIEW. UU. FOR INSURED AIDS? Trump announces a historical mineral agreement:
“If the United States loses access to critical minerals processed from foreign sources, the United States commercial and defense manufacturing base for derived products could face significant shortage and inability to meet demand,” the president warned.
Trump accused foreign mineral suppliers of participating in “generalized price manipulation, overcapacity, arbitrary export restrictions and the exploitation of their supply chain domain to distort world markets and, therefore, gain geopolitical and economic.”
China, in particular, has been accused by US and European companies to throw fixed amounts of minerals in their markets at reduced rate prices, which makes everything impossible for local mining or refining industries to flourish.
The Biden administration complaining Last October about the discharge of products and the “predatory price” of the Chinese lithium industry. China’s tactics opened the price of lithium at a time when demand was sliding, electric vehicles have not sold well in the United States. This destroyed the plans of US and European companies to develop their own lithium resources.
Mira – President Trump: Joe Biden let China “Vellen Us” on commerce:
China did the The same With Cobalt in May 2024, flooding world markets with cheap cobalt squeezed from the mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC). China was willing to take a short -term loss through the prices of excess supply and predators to destroy foreign competition and the maintenance of its general domain in vital minerals.
The Chinese believe that such tactics demonstrate the ruthless superiority of their authoritarian system, which can manipulate prices to make competition from the free country not profitable. Given the time that has been developing mines and building refineries, a brief explosion of predators from China can beat the industries in the free world for years.
Trump’s executive order ordered the Department of Commerce to investigate predators in the supply of rare earth and critical minerals, and produce a draft report within 90 days of the viability of using tariffs to control the fucciones of artificial prices and “” a final report will be presented 90 days after that.
Althheheh, Trump’s executive order did not appoint any specific country, it seems clear that China will be the main suspect in the investigation of mineral discharge and predatory prices. Triumph tidy Similar investigations of pharmaceutical and semiconductor imports this week.
