By the authority vested in me as President by the Structure and the legal guidelines of the USA of America, together with the Commerce Growth Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862) (the “Act”), it’s hereby ordered:
Part 1. Coverage. A robust nationwide protection depends upon a sturdy economic system and worth stability, a resilient manufacturing and protection industrial base, and safe home provide chains. Important minerals, together with uncommon earth parts, within the type of processed minerals are important uncooked supplies and demanding manufacturing inputs required for financial and nationwide safety. Important mineral oxides, oxalates, salts, and metals (processed important minerals), in addition to their spinoff merchandise — the manufactured items incorporating them — are equally foundational to United States nationwide safety and protection.
However processed important minerals and their spinoff merchandise face vital international provide chain vulnerabilities and market distortions on account of reliance on a small variety of overseas suppliers. These vulnerabilities and distortions have led to vital United States import dependencies. The dependence of the USA on imports and the vulnerability of our provide chains raises the potential for dangers to nationwide safety, protection readiness, worth stability, and financial prosperity and resilience.
Processed important minerals and their spinoff merchandise are important for financial safety and resilience as a result of they underpin key industries, drive technological innovation, and assist important infrastructure very important for a contemporary American economic system. They’re key constructing blocks of our manufacturing base and foundational to sectors starting from transportation and power to telecommunications and superior manufacturing. These financial sectors are, furthermore, foundational to America’s nationwide safety.
Processed important minerals and their spinoff merchandise are important for nationwide safety as a result of they’re foundational to navy infrastructure, power infrastructure, and superior protection programs and applied sciences. They’re key constructing blocks of our protection industrial base and integral to purposes comparable to jet engines, missile steering programs, superior computing, radar programs, superior optics, and safe communications tools.
The USA manufacturing and protection industrial bases stay depending on overseas sources for processed important mineral merchandise. Many of those overseas sources are vulnerable to critical, sustained, and long-term provide chain shocks. Ought to the USA lose entry to processed important minerals from overseas sources, the USA business and protection manufacturing base for spinoff merchandise may face vital shortages and an incapacity to satisfy demand.
Related dangers come up from a wide range of components. First, international provide chains are liable to disruption from geopolitical tensions, wars, pure disasters, pandemics, and commerce conflicts.
Second, main international overseas producers of processed important minerals have engaged in widespread worth manipulation, overcapacity, arbitrary export restrictions, and the exploitation of their provide chain dominance to distort world markets and thereby achieve geopolitical and financial leverage over the USA and different opponents that rely on processed important minerals to fabricate spinoff merchandise important to their financial and nationwide safety and nationwide protection. Due to this fact, the import dependence of the USA on processed important minerals from overseas sources might pose a critical nationwide safety danger to the USA economic system and protection preparedness.
Third, the dangers arising from America’s import dependence on processed important minerals additionally lengthen to spinoff merchandise which are integral to the USA economic system and financial and nationwide safety.
For the USA to fabricate spinoff merchandise, it should have prepared entry to an inexpensive, resilient, and sustainable provide of processed important minerals. Concurrently, a resilient and sustainable manufacturing base for spinoff merchandise is significant to making a secure demand base for processed important minerals. Each should coexist to make sure financial stability and nationwide safety.
Lastly, overreliance on a small variety of geographic areas amplifies the dangers posed by geopolitical instability and regional disruptions.
In gentle of the above dangers and realities, an investigation beneath part 232 of the Act (part 232) is critical to find out whether or not imports of processed important minerals and their spinoff merchandise threaten to impair nationwide safety.
Sec. 2. Definitions. As used on this order:
(a) The time period “important minerals” means these minerals included within the “Important Minerals Listing” printed by the USA Geological Survey (USGS) pursuant to part 7002(c) of the Vitality Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606) at 87 FR 10381, or any subsequent such record. The time period “important minerals” additionally consists of uranium.
(b) The time period “uncommon earth parts” means the 17 parts recognized as uncommon earth parts by the Division of Vitality (DOE) within the April 2020 publication titled “Important Supplies Uncommon Earths Provide Chain.” The time period additionally consists of any further parts that both the USGS or DOE determines in any subsequent official report or publication must be thought of uncommon earth parts.
(c) The time period “processed important minerals” refers to important minerals which have undergone the actions that happen after important mineral ore is extracted from a mine up by means of its conversion right into a steel, steel powder or a grasp alloy. These actions particularly happen starting from the purpose at which ores are transformed into oxide concentrates; separated into oxides; and transformed into metals, steel powders, and grasp alloys.
(d) The time period “spinoff merchandise” consists of all items that incorporate processed important minerals as inputs. These items embrace semi-finished items (comparable to semiconductor wafers, anodes, and cathodes) in addition to closing merchandise (comparable to everlasting magnets, motors, electrical autos, batteries, smartphones, microprocessors, radar programs, wind generators and their parts, and superior optical units).
Sec. 3. Part 232 Investigation. (a) The Secretary of Commerce shall provoke an investigation beneath part 232 to find out the results on nationwide safety of imports of processed important minerals and their spinoff merchandise.
(b) In conducting the investigation described in subsection (a) of this part, the Secretary of Commerce shall assess the components set forth in 19 U.S.C. 1862(d), labeled “Home manufacturing for nationwide protection; affect of overseas competitors on financial welfare of home industries,” in addition to different related components, together with:
(i) identification of United States imports of all processed important minerals and spinoff merchandise incorporating such processed important minerals;
(ii) the overseas sources by p.c and quantity of all processed important mineral imports and spinoff product imports, the precise forms of dangers which may be related to every supply by nation, and people supply nations deemed to be of great danger;
(iii) an evaluation of the distortive results of the predatory financial, pricing, and market manipulation methods and practices utilized by nations that course of important minerals which are exported to the USA, together with the distortive results on home funding and the viability of United States manufacturing, in addition to an evaluation of how such methods and practices allow such nations to take care of their management over the important minerals processing sector and deform United States market costs for spinoff merchandise;
(iv) an evaluation of the demand for processed important minerals by producers of spinoff merchandise in the USA and globally, together with an evaluation of the extent to which such producers’ demand for processed important minerals originates from nations recognized beneath subsections (b)(ii) and (b)(iii) of this part;
(v) a overview and danger evaluation of worldwide provide chains for processed important minerals and their spinoff merchandise;
(vi) an evaluation of the present and potential capabilities of the USA to course of important minerals and their spinoff merchandise; and
(vii) the greenback worth of the present degree of imports of all processed important minerals and spinoff merchandise by complete worth and nation of export.
(c) The Secretary of Commerce shall, per relevant regulation, proceed expeditiously in conducting the investigation as follows:
(i) Inside 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit for inside overview and remark a draft interim report back to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Protection, the USA Commerce Consultant, the Assistant to the President for Financial Coverage, and the Senior Counselor to the President for Commerce and Manufacturing.
(ii) Feedback to the Secretary of Commerce from the officers recognized in subsection (c)(i) of this part shall be offered inside 15 days of submission of the draft interim report described in subsection (c)(i) of this part.
(iii) The Secretary of Commerce shall submit a closing report and suggestions to the President inside 180 days of the investigation’s graduation.
(d) In contemplating whether or not to make suggestions for motion or inaction pursuant to part 232(b) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1862(b)), the Secretary of Commerce shall contemplate:
(i) the imposition of tariffs in addition to different import restrictions and their acceptable ranges;
(ii) safeguards to keep away from circumvention and any weakening of the part 232 measures;
(iii) insurance policies to incentivize home manufacturing, processing, and recycling; and
(iv) any further measures which may be warranted to mitigate United States nationwide safety dangers, as acceptable, beneath the President’s authority pursuant to the Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.).
Sec. 4. Normal Provisions. (a) Nothing on this order shall be construed to impair or in any other case have an effect on:
(i) the authority granted by regulation to an government division or company, or the pinnacle thereof; or
(ii) the capabilities of the Director of the Workplace of Administration and Price range referring to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be applied per relevant regulation and topic to the provision of appropriations.
(c) This order just isn’t supposed to, and doesn’t, create any proper or profit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at regulation or in fairness by any occasion towards the USA, its departments, businesses, or entities, its officers, staff, or brokers, or some other individual.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE
April 15, 2025.
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