US President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into imports of processed critical minerals or products that contain them, which may result in the imposition of new tariffs.

The secretary of commerce will assess whether oxides, metals, master alloys, and any product containing processed critical minerals – including semi-finished goods such as anodes and cathodes, and final products such as EVs and batteries – pose a threat to national security. The measure comes under Section 232, a provision of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 that enables trade restrictions if deemed necessary to protect national security.

Kallanish notes that the investigation is expected to last 90 days. If the US imposes tariffs on critical minerals, they will replace the reciprocal levies enforced earlier this month.

China, which is in a trade war with the US, control the vast majority of critical mineral processing in the world and is also a global leader in batteries, accounting for three-quarters of production in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency.

Tuesday’s executive order comes as the government evaluates tariffs on copper imports and an emergency measure to boost domestic production of critical minerals. Last month, Trump invoked emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to identify priority developments and speed up permits for projects on federal land.

Currently, Chinese goods are subject to 145% tariffs in the US market, including a “reciprocal tariff” of 125%. If the potential 25% tariff under Section 232 is applied to Chinese imports rather than the reciprocal tariffs, US importers in the automotive and clean tech industries would be much better off. Yet, it remains unclear whether the tariff replacement would apply to all countries or exclude China.  

Washington has recently exempted reciprocal tariffs on some Chinese products such as computers, smartphones, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and integrated circuits. Beijing says it’s evaluating the impact of such a measure, but calls on the US government to “take a big step in correcting its mistakes and completely cancel ‘reciprocal tariffs’ and return to the right path of mutual respect.”