President Donald Trump is betting big on critical minerals again, signing an proclamation for the Commerce Secretary and the US Trade Representative to negotiate agreements with trading partners aimed at changing how processed critical minerals and their derivative products enter the US.
The proclamation traces back to an October 2025 Commerce report under Section 232 which found processed critical minerals and their derivative products are being imported “in such quantities and under such circumstances” as to threaten national security, and describes these materials as essential to national defense programs and critical infrastructure.
Commerce’s findings argue the issue is not just mining. The proclamation states that even where the US mines minerals domestically, the country can remain vulnerable if it still depends on foreign countries to process them into usable materials or components.
As of 2024, the US was 100% net-import reliant for 12 critical minerals and 50% or greater net-import reliant for another 29.
Rare earths are the clearest example used in the proclamation, with US being the second largest producer of mined, unprocessed rare earth oxides, but has limited processing capacity, forcing those oxides to be exported for further refining and processing and then reimported for domestic use.
That processing gap shows up downstream in magnets. The proclamation cites US is “entirely reliant” on imports of rare earth permanent magnets to meet commercial demand, while US production currently meets only a fraction of defense needs.
It also highlights rare earth permanent magnets as a derivative product used in and vital to nearly all electronics and vehicles.
Commerce’s report, as summarized in the proclamation, says processed critical minerals are essential to the US defense industrial base and appear across capabilities including fighter aircraft, munitions, armor plating, naval ships, communication networks, navigation systems, and surveillance systems.
The proclamation also says these materials are essential to each of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors: lithium, fluorite, and bromine for the chemical sector, gallium, germanium, indium, and yttrium for communications, and cobalt, nickel, uranium, praseodymium, and terbium for energy applications including battery storage, nuclear fuel, generators, and electric vehicle motors.
A 180-day update deadline is built in the proclamation for Commerce and USTR to provide Trump an update on deals with trade partners, stating he may take additional actions if agreements are not reached within 180 days, are not carried out, or are ineffective.
Trump also states that depending on negotiations he may consider alternative remedies later, including minimum import prices for specific types of critical minerals.
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