Demand for critical minerals has been dubbed the “gold rush of the 21st century,” given their importance in many emerging technologies from renewable energy to artificial intelligence.
While President Trump has vowed to establish the U.S. as “the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals,” the country currently remains heavily reliant on imports from abroad.
Why It Matters
Critical mineral imports—particularly those of rare earth minerals— are vital to various aspects of the U.S. economy. In addition to materials used in manufacturing and construction, such as graphite and asbestos, minerals like lithium are essential for many modern technologies, including rechargeable batteries in electric vehicles and other green energy innovations.
America’s reliance on foreign imports creates a significant financial and geopolitical risk, as adversarial states controlling the supply chain could potentially exploit this vulnerability.
What To Know
As illustrated in the map above, based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. imports a significant portion of its minerals from allied countries like Canada, Brazil, and Germany. Canada, in particular, is a key supplier of cesium, used in the production of electric vehicle batteries.
According to the USGS, the U.S. is fully reliant on imports of 12 of the 50 minerals considered “critical,” and over 50 percent reliant on imports for 28 more.
The global supply of critical minerals is also heavily dominated by countries from the so-called Axis of Upheaval, the informal collective term for Iran, Russia and China, considered America’s principal adversaries of the 2020s.
These three countries host large deposits of several minerals critical to the U.S., posing potential challenges for America’s economic and geopolitical goals.
Though the level of imports has decreased since the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia remains a critical provider of several minerals, particularly palladium, according to the USGS.
In response to this, Montana Senator Steve Daines introduced a bill in September calling for the U.S. to ban critical mineral imports from Russia, and instead support the development of domestic extraction infrastructure.
Russia’s mineral resources have been strengthened by its invasion of Ukraine, as the country is now in control of territories rich in deposits of copper, lead, manganese, iron, and rare earth elements. President Vladimir Putin has recently suggested collaborating with the U.S. to extract the territories’ rare earth minerals as part of potential future negotiations.
Iran, similarly, has its own mineral wealth, though this is far less crucial to the country’s economy than its reserves of oil and gas. However, the litany of American sanctions on Iran—for violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, support of militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as human rights abuses—mean that the U.S. imports no minerals from the country.
China remains a key supplier of minerals to the U.S., ranking second only to Canada in overall net import reliance, and is the principal import source for many of the 50 minerals America considers critical, such as graphite, tantalum and rubidium.
Many of these have important industrial and military applications, as acknowledged by Beijing in December, when it announced a ban on gallium, germanium, antimony and “superhard materials” to the U.S.
According to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, China also holds a dominant position in the rare earth supply chain, producing 70 percent of the world’s output and processing 90 percent of global rare earths.
What People Are Saying
Ryan Kiggins, political science professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, told Newsweek: “For nearly 40 years, the U.S. has grown increasingly dependent on China for both raw and refined rare earths. This dependency arose as the U.S. chose to forgo domestic mining and refining, unwilling to bear the significant investment and environmental costs.”
Montana Senator Steve Daines, in a statement following the introduction of his bill on banning mineral imports from Russia: “There is no reason the United States should be importing critical minerals that we can find right here at home. Montana is rich in minerals, and we need to be supporting American mines and American jobs, not Russia’s.”
What Happens Next?
Securing access to critical minerals has emerged as a cornerstone of Trump’s foreign policy agenda. The president is seeking access to Ukraine’s reserves of rare earth elements, alongside other natural resources, as compensation for past and future assistance to the country.
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