U.S. President Donald Trump plans to build metallurgical plants on Pentagon military bases as part of his initiative to increase domestic production of critical minerals and reduce China’s control over this sector, Reuters reported, citing two senior officials from the Trump administration.
This move is one of several planned in an executive order that Trump may sign as early as Wednesday, after he told the U.S. Congress last week that he would “take historic steps to significantly expand the mining of critical minerals and rare earth elements here in the U.S.”
According to sources who were not authorized to publicly discuss the administration’s plans, under this order, the Pentagon will work with other federal agencies to establish processing facilities at its bases. Using military bases for processing would emphasize the importance Trump places on minerals critical to national security. Fighter jets, submarines, bullets, and other weapons used by the U.S. military are made from minerals processed by Beijing.
One source also said that Trump plans to appoint an official responsible for critical minerals.
Some Trump administration officials, according to one official, were alarmed by early signs that China might limit the export of critical minerals in response to tariffs imposed by Trump or for other reasons.
The plan, which prioritizes metal processing over revising the U.S. mining permit system, could anger American miners but would address a long-standing concern among manufacturers that China controls too large a share of the global metal processing sector.
