U.S President Trump has just declared a “national emergency” to deal with a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and the economy. The threat stems from an “undue reliance” on supplies of critical minerals from “foreign adversaries”.
The declaration was made in the Executive Order on Addressing the Threat to the Domestic Supply Chain from Reliance on Critical Minerals from Foreign Adversaries that was issued by the White House yesterday. The declaration listed thirty-five critical minerals that was compiled by the Department of the Interior (DoI) in response to a 2017 executive order by the President. The minerals in this list are identified as being critical to the economic and national security of the U.S., having supply chains that may be vulnerable to disruption and serving “an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for our economy or our national security.” Uranium is one of the minerals on the DoI list.
The U.S. imports more than half its annual consumption of thirty one of the thirty five minerals on the list. The U.S. has no domestic production at all for fourteen minerals and is completely dependent on imports. The President said, "[A] strong America cannot be dependent on imports from foreign adversaries for the critical minerals that are increasingly necessary to maintain our economic and military strength in the 21st century," Trump said in the Executive Order.
The President continued, “Whereas the United States recognizes the continued importance of cooperation on supply chain issues with international partners and allies, in many cases, the aggressive economic practices of certain non-market foreign producers of critical minerals have destroyed vital mining and manufacturing jobs in the United States.”
“In addition, I find that the United States must broadly enhance its mining and processing capacity, including for minerals not identified as critical minerals and not included within the national emergency declared in this order. By expanding and strengthening domestic mining and processing capacity today, we guard against the possibility of supply chain disruptions and future attempts by our adversaries or strategic competitors to harm our economy and military readiness.” He pointed out that the economic benefits from a stronger mining and processing industry include providing hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The President ordered the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an investigation into the "undue reliance on critical minerals … from foreign adversaries" on the part of the U.S. The DoI must submit a report within sixty days on its conclusions and recommendation for executive action. These may include the imposition of tariffs and quotas. He also issued instructions to prioritize the expansion and protection of the domestic supply chain for minerals.
The Nuclear Fuels Working Group was established by President Trump in 2019. It was charged with carrying out a full analysis of national security consideration with respect to the nuclear fuel supply cycle. The formation of the Group was triggered by a Section 232 Petition from two U.S. uranium mining companies, Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy. Their petition requested a quota on uranium imports. The Group has also called for action to be taken to strengthen the country’s uranium mining industry.
Earlier this year, the Group recommended that the U.S. government support the domestic uranium industry through such measures as establishing a uranium reserve, streamlining regulatory reform and land access for uranium mining, and extending the Russian Suspension Agreement to protect against future uranium dumping in the US market by Russia. In September, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Russian state corporation Rosatom signed a draft amendment to extend the agreement to 2040.
Mark Chalmers is the president and CEO of Energy Fuels. He says that the company strongly supports the declaration of the President. However, he also said that despite the strong support for domestic uranium producers, the U.S. government has not yet turned all of this into “definitive” actions. “Energy Fuels will continue our efforts in Washington, DC towards seeing that last night's announcement results in real, tangible support for US uranium, vanadium and rare earth element producers,” he said.