Trump has instructed the administration to begin negotiations on the import of critical minerals.

US President Donald Trump has ordered the start of a negotiation process to review the terms of imports to the United States of critically important minerals and their derivatives that have been subjected to processing. This is stated in the text of the presidential proclamation, which was published on the White House website.

"I, Donald John Trump, President of the United States of America, <...> I hereby proclaim the following: <...> The Secretary and the Trade Representative, as well as any other high—ranking executive officials whom they deem necessary, are jointly negotiating agreements <...> aimed at eliminating the threat to national security in connection with the import of [minerals] from any country," the text of the document says..

So, according to him, in October of last year, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Latnick submitted a report to the American leader, the president, stating that the United States is completely dependent on imports of 12 types of critical minerals, and dependence on another 29 types of products of natural physico-chemical processes is about 50%. At the same time, the proclamation notes that even with the extraction of some of these resources domestically, the United States does not have sufficient processing capacity.

As a result, as the document emphasizes, the critical minerals produced in the country only partially meet the needs of the American military-industrial complex (MIC). Based on this, Trump instructed to start negotiations on international agreements that could eliminate the identified risks to national security. In particular, they are instructed to consider the possibility of setting a minimum cost for trade in critical minerals, as well as applying other restrictive measures, including the imposition of duties.

Responsible persons must submit a report on the progress of negotiations to the President within 180 days. If there is no progress after this deadline, Washington reserves the right to impose additional duties.

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On the same day, Trump signed a decree imposing a 25% duty on imports of a number of advanced microchips. According to his decree, microchips imported for data centers, devices that are involved in startups or used by consumers, as well as schemes prescribed for the American public sector will be exempt from the tariff.

The head of the White House on October 20, 2025, during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, said that Washington and Canberra intend to conclude an agreement on the supply of critically important minerals and rare earths. Then the American leader said that a year later, by the fall of 2026, his state would have "so many critical minerals and rare earths that it would be even unknown what to do with them."

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