The Interior Department is proposing to add six mineral commodities to the list of critical minerals as part of the Trump administration’s effort to incentivize domestic production and processing of metals, minerals, and rare earth elements vital to the

"Critical minerals, rare earths, skills and space, and sunlight, the trade ties to our region. The only thing our nation does not have, is time to waste." It is time and money Mr.

Since April, the CCP has imposed “export control restrictions” on 12 rare earths—classified collectively as one critical mineral on the survey’s list—including five in October.

earth minerals.

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hold up signed documents for a critical minerals/rare earth deal with Japan during a meeting at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on Oct. 28, 2025.

But there are negatives to solar—you use a lot of rare earth minerals in the production of solar panels. They have hazardous materials in them. You can't just send them to a regular municipal waste site.

China had become the world’s leading refiner by 2023 of key minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, natural graphite, and rare earth elements–with 92 percent of refined rare earth production originating from China that year.

Additionally, the Department of Defense purchased $400 million in shares in MP Materials, a rare-earth producer, to secure critical minerals and become the company’s largest shareholder.

The plan also includes an offer to strategic partners like the United States for joint extraction of critical minerals, including rare earths.

The territory is rich in mineral resources, including rare earth deposits in its southern Gardar Province.

The strategy emphasizes the importance of securing stable supplies of 10 strategic core minerals, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite, and rare earths.

The order focuses on choke points in the supply chains of four key products, including semiconductor chips, large-capacity batteries for electric vehicles, rare earth minerals, and pharmaceutical ingredients.

In the updated listing, USGS broke those groupings into individual minerals, adding three platinum metals—palladium, platinum, iridium—and 15 rare earth minerals, such as cerium, gadolinium, and thulium.

But business analysts and innovation experts have discussed how, for various reasons, Canada has not fully capitalized on these advantages to scale up companies and industries in critical areas such as tech, rare earth minerals, and vaccines.

He concluded: “The ORE Act will help ensure China never has that opportunity by establishing a rare earth elements and critical minerals supply chain in the U.S."

The purchase of gold producing assets is not as heavily scrutinised compared to rare earth minerals given gold is a more widely traded commodity.

“The Chinese control somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of the world's supply of rare-earth minerals, and if the price goes up, there becomes a growth and incentive to come up with technological fixes to address this stuff,” Hale said.

Samples of rare earth minerals from left: Cerium oxide, Bastnaesite, Neodymium oxide and Lanthanum carbonate at Molycorp's Mountain Pass Rare Earth facility in Mountain Pass, California, June 29, 2015.

Ami Bera (D-Calif.), have cautioned strongly against complacency in a world where Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine may have emboldened other aggressors and the United States remains heavily dependent on China for rare earth minerals such as cobalt

The department is working with partners to identify mine waste deposits and fast-tracking projects capable of recovering resources such as germanium, zinc, rare earth elements, and uranium.

Partnerships With US and Japan The Copi Project will supply rare earths, titanium, and zircon for renewable energy, defence, and advanced manufacturing.

"We must do more to ensure that our partners are fully engaged in bolstering and supporting our critical minerals and rare earths sectors," King said.

Only one company in the U.S. currently mines rare earths, and it has stated its intent to conduct significant rare earth processing of its U.S.-mined rare earths inside China.

Rare earths and critical minerals are important components in rechargeable battery technology. Currently, even major carmakers like BMW and Tesla rely heavily on the Chinese market for the component.

Arizona, Gosar noted, has no shortage of valuable mineral resources. He cited the La Paz Scandium and Rare Earths Project in La Paz, Arizona. When scandium is combined with aluminum, the resultant alloy is both strong and light.

Biodiversity Impact To power the green economy, the demand for metals like cobalt and nickel for electric vehicles, aluminum and manganese for wind turbines, and rare earth minerals for solar panels will increasingly run into biodiversity controversies

“America imports a large quantity of critical minerals from China, which has a stranglehold over the global trade, especially of processed critical minerals and rare earths and leaves America reliant on Chinese exports,” the two lawmakers wrote.

The country contributes 52 percent of global lithium production while also producing minerals necessary for the net zero transition, including cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, and rare earths.

Moreover, Biden signed an executive order to review U.S. supply chains in February for four core products—semiconductor chips, batteries for electric vehicles, rare earth minerals, and pharmaceuticals—the results of which will come out in June.

(Chinatopix via AP) In a separate appearance at a CNBC event, Bessent said China’s expanded rare earth restrictions underscore the need for the United States to build its own critical mineral supply chains.