Overview
- The presidential determination, signed July 30, gives the Secretary of Commerce authority under Section 101 of the Defense Production Act to impose export restrictions on defined recoverable critical minerals and materials.
- The policy labels recoverable CMMs as items such as black mass, end-of-life goods, rare‑earth permanent magnets, swarf and other waste or scrap that contain critical minerals, and it explicitly excludes copper scrap.
- Commerce is directed to implement the determination by issuing regulations, guidance and procedures and to publish the rulemaking in the Federal Register for immediate enforcement planning.
- A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office assessment says recycling and substitution technologies will take roughly two to ten years to scale for many minerals, so officials and industry expect near‑term supply gaps despite the new export curbs.
- The move builds on prior administration actions to boost domestic mineral production and stockpiles and could raise short‑term trade and procurement tensions as the U.S. seeks to shift processing away from foreign refiners, especially facilities in China.