President Donald Trump is set to be ready to issue an executive order that would dramatically accelerate the American plan to turn to its own resources to ween itself off of dependence on China for its rare earth mineral supplier. Last week he told congress how would “take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA.”
REPORT: President Trump’s Plan to Counter China’s Control Of Important Minerals– wltreport.com
Source Link
Excerpt:
President Trump has a plan to challenge China’s chokehold on critical minerals.
As it stands, the U.S. relies on minerals from China to build military weaponry, including fighter jets and submarines.
That doesn’t seem very smart, does it?
That’s why President Trump is taking action to eliminate our nation’s reliance on China for such important minerals.
According to a new report from Reuters, President Trump will sign an executive order that will boost domestic processing of minerals by building metal refineries on U.S. military bases.
In addition, he plans to name a critical minerals czar to oversee the new initiative.
He could sign the executive order as soon as Wednesday.
Here are the details:
Reuters has the exclusive scoop:
U.S. President Donald Trump aims to build metals refining facilities on Pentagon military bases as part of his plan to boost domestic production of critical minerals and offset China’s control of the sector, two senior administration officials told Reuters.
The move is one of several planned for an executive order Trump could sign as soon as Wednesday after he told the U.S. Congress last week he would “take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA.”
As part of the order, the Pentagon would work with other federal agencies to install processing facilities on its bases, according to the sources, who were not authorized to publicly discuss the administration’s deliberations.
Using military bases for processing would underscore the importance Trump is placing on critical minerals for national security. Fighter jets, submarines, bullets and other weaponry used by the U.S. military are built with minerals processed by Beijing.
Trump also plans to name a critical minerals czar, similar to steps previous presidents have taken to coordinate Washington’s focus on other areas, according to one of the sources. The plans are under discussion and could change before Trump signs the order, the sources added.
