Commerce Secretary Lutnick tasked with report on critical resource supply chains and domestic production potential.
The supply of critical raw materials to the United States is once again in the spotlight. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating an investigation into whether the country’s heavy reliance on imports of strategically important minerals poses a threat to national security. According to the order, foreign producers have engaged in price manipulation, overproduction, and arbitrary export restrictions—using their dominance in global supply chains to exert geopolitical and economic influence over the United States.
Commerce Secretary Howard William Lutnick has been given 180 days to deliver a comprehensive report. The review will assess supply chain vulnerabilities, evaluate domestic downstream industrial capacities, and recommend potential countermeasures. Among the options under consideration are punitive tariffs on specific resource imports.
U.S. Dependency on China Under Scrutiny
The investigation will cover all 50 minerals currently classified as critical by the U.S. Geological Survey. China is the leading producer of most of these materials, and many U.S. companies heavily depend on Chinese imports. This move is widely interpreted as the latest development in the ongoing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Just days ago, China responded to newly announced U.S. tariffs by imposing export controls on seven rare earth elements.
The issue of import dependency isn’t new. Under the previous administration, the Commerce Department had already launched an investigation into the United States’ reliance on rare earth magnets. Rather than recommending tariffs, the department advised then-President Joe Biden to boost domestic production through financial incentives (we reported).
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