Client Advisory: US and EU Actions to Address Supply Chain Threats Caused by Reliance on Critical Mineral Imports

On September 30, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13953 on "Addressing the Threat to the Domestic Supply Chain from Reliance on Critical Minerals from Foreign Adversaries and Supporting the Domestic Mining and Processing Industries." In the Executive Order, the President declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in order to "deal with the threat posed by our Nation's undue reliance on critical minerals, in processed or unprocessed form, from foreign adversaries." The President also directed a group of federal agencies to recommend possible executive actions to ensure an uninterrupted supply of critical minerals for the US economy. Meanwhile, the European Commission is also taking steps to increase the security of the European Union’s mineral supply chain, announcing an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials in early September. The Commission's Action Plan also contains a list of critical raw materials, as well as a description of the challenges for building resilience, sustainability, and open strategic autonomy with regard to the supply of those materials, and a set of related action items. Click here to read the full Client Advisory to learn more about US and EU actions on critical mineral imports.