Rare earth materialsU.S. moves to lessen dependence on foreign-sourced rare earth materials

Critical minerals are needed for many products used by Americans in everyday life, such as cell phones, computers, automobiles, and airplanes. These minerals are also used to make many other products important to the American economy and defense, including advanced electronics; manufacturing equipment; electricity generation, storage, and transmission systems; transportation systems; defense systems and other military supplies; cutting-edge medical devices; and other critical infrastructure systems.

In a new report, the U.S. Department of Commerce says that the assured supply of these critical minerals, and the resiliency of their supply chains, are essential to the U.S. economic security and national defense. Currently, the United States is heavily dependent on foreign sources of critical minerals. Specifically, the United States is import-reliant (imports are greater than 50 percent of annual consumption) for 31 of the 35 minerals designated as critical by the Department of the Interior (DOI). The United States does not have any domestic production and relies completely on imports to supply its demand for 14 critical minerals.

“Mitigating risks associated with foreign dependence on sources of critical minerals is important and consistent with the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy to promote American prosperity and to preserve peace through strength,” the Commerce Department says. “The dependency of the United States on foreign sources of critical minerals creates a strategic vulnerability for both our economy and our military with respect to adverse foreign government actions, natural disasters, and other events that could disrupt supply.”

All stages of the critical mineral supply chain are important and can impact one another. For example, increasing the rate of mining without increasing corresponding processing and manufacturing capabilities will simply move the source of economic and national security risk further down the supply chain and create dependence on foreign sources for these capabilities.

Currently, the United States lacks domestic processing and manufacturing capabilities for some critical minerals, which results in the export of domestically produced ores and concentrates for further processing into more value-added products. The Commerce Department notes that lack of domestic processing and manufacturing capabilities for critical materials makes the United States vulnerable to potential geo-economic and geopolitical actions from foreign governments that may lead to price and demand volatility for specific minerals, as well as potential supply disruptions causing mineral shortfalls.