Commerce Critical Minerals Strategy Hints at New Section 232 Investigations
The Commerce Department seemed to hint at the possibility of new Section 232 investigations in its critical minerals strategy report. According to one of the action items, Commerce suggested that the U.S. government "consider whether the circumstances of U.S. reliance…
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on imports of high risk materials merit investigations to determine the effect on U.S. national security." Such an effort is "ongoing" and the Bureau of Industry and Security and the Defense Department are mentioned as handling the item. The report was a result of a 2017 executive order that called for a broad review of the U.S. supply of critical minerals (see 1712260006). "Currently, the United States is heavily dependent on imports of critical minerals, with the U.S. dependent on imports for more than 50 percent of domestic demand for 29 of the 35 minerals named" in an Interior Department report, a June 4 Commerce news release said. "In addition, the United States lacks any domestic production for 14 of the 35 minerals and does not have domestic access to processing and manufacturing capabilities for many of these minerals." Among other action items mentioned are to "use international trade agreements to challenge unlawful or otherwise unfair trading practices of foreign countries, where applicable" and "monitor foreign countries’ barriers to critical mineral-related trade and investment and seek to remove such barriers when they arise."