Trump Seeks to Dismantle China's Mineral Stranglehold
The US president declared in a proclamation signed Wednesday that America's dangerous reliance on essential minerals processed in foreign territories constitutes an acute threat to national security and economic sovereignty.
Negotiators face a hard deadline of July 13, 2026—precisely 180 days—to hammer out legally binding or enforceable agreements that fundamentally reshape global mineral supply networks.
Trump directed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to negotiate aggressive new or expanded agreements designed to "adjust imports" of processed vital minerals and their derivative products, fundamentally restructuring international trade relationships.
Strategic priorities include dramatically expanding allied processing capacity, securing offtake agreements guaranteeing US access, directing investment toward non-Chinese production facilities, and deploying trade-stabilizing mechanisms like price floors to combat market price fluctuations and dangerous volatility threatening economic stability.
"Mining a mineral domestically does not safeguard the national security of the United States if the United States remains dependent on a foreign country for the processing of that mineral," the proclamation said.
The president wields unilateral authority to bypass additional review procedures and implement harsh "remedial" measures—including crushing tariffs, restrictive quotas, or mandatory "minimum import prices"—should negotiators fail to reach agreements by the established deadline.
China exercises commanding influence over strategic commodities including rare earths, graphite, and gallium, controlling over 60% of global rare earth mining operations and a staggering 90% of worldwide processing capacity, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The proclamation revealed that as of 2024, the US maintained 100% net-import dependence for 12 critical minerals, while demonstrating 50% or greater net-import reliance for an additional 29 critical minerals essential to national defense and technological infrastructure.
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