The News
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday invoking wartime powers to boost domestic mining of critical minerals, as Washington intensifies its push to wean the US off the China-dominated supply chain.
The executive order invoked the Defense Production Act to allow the US to immediately expand domestic output of minerals such as gold, copper and uranium, and streamline mining and production permits on national security grounds.
Speaking from the White House, Trump said that the order would “dramatically increase production of critical minerals and rare earths,” The Financial Times reported.
It came as the US president also promised Thursday that a critical minerals deal with Ukraine in return for aid would be signed “very shortly.”