{"id":16034,"date":"2025-03-19T08:53:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T08:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/19\/trumps-tariffs-disrupting-north-american-critical-minerals-supply-chains\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T08:53:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T08:53:35","slug":"trumps-tariffs-disrupting-north-american-critical-minerals-supply-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/19\/trumps-tariffs-disrupting-north-american-critical-minerals-supply-chains\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Tariffs Disrupting North American Critical Minerals Supply Chains"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Underscoring the global need for raw materials, Canada, the US, the UK, the EU and Australia have all established critical minerals lists aimed at streamlining and expediting projects up and down the supply chain. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Reducing reliance on powerhouse critical minerals producer China is a key goal, but as the Trump administration focuses on tariffs and domestic production, it is threatening to disrupt fragile ex-China supply chains. <\/p>\n

During a policy outlook panel at this year\u2019s Toronto-based Benchmark Summit, Gracelin Baskaran, director of critical minerals security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Morgan Bazilian, professor at the Colorado School of Mines, discussed the global implications of US tariffs, honing in on critical minerals.<\/p>\n

Although inflation is the most obvious consequence of widespread tariffs, Baskaran pointed to longer-term effects. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a tendency in policy to think about the consequence of tariffs being inflation in the short to medium term,\u2019 she commented. \u201cBut I think the bigger thing is it also undermines the development of domestic industry.\u201d <\/p>\n

Using uranium and the nuclear fuel cycle as an example, Baskaran explained to the audience that tariffs would disincentivize the growth of the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain in the US. In her view, a tariff on uranium would lead to a 2 percent increase in electricity costs, which would have a ripple effect across the supply chain. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest problem is we\u2019re building our enrichment capabilities in the US, and we need to incentivize sending raw uranium to the US for enrichment. And it undermines that effort, because it\u2019s now 25 percent more expensive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As the US pushes for domestic reindustrialization and stronger internal supply chains, tariffs are making it harder to secure critical resources needed for midstream processing \u2014 an already unprofitable sector.<\/p>\n

While the impact may seem short term, failing to develop a sustainable domestic industry could have lasting consequences, affecting US manufacturing and resource independence for decades, she added. <\/p>\n

\n

Copper tariff investigation boosts prices <\/h3>\n

Deemed essential for widespread electrification, copper is listed on all critical minerals lists. <\/p>\n

The US produced 1.1 million metric tons of copper and 890,000 metric tons of refined copper in 2024. However, according to the US Geological Survey, the country also imported 810,000 metric tons of refined copper last year. <\/p>\n

In late February, the Trump administration launched a Section 232 investigation into copper imports. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been described by Peter Navarro, trade adviser for the White House, as a move to curb China\u2019s expanding copper sector while addressing vulnerabilities in the US supply chain. <\/p>\n

Navarro has stressed the need to restore domestic mining, smelting and refining of copper, citing military and technological applications. News of the investigation and concerns about potential tariffs targeting the sector pushed have copper prices over 9 percent higher, from US$4.50 per pound on February 27 to US$4.94 on March 17. <\/p>\n

As Bazilian pointed out, the rise has come in part due to tariff speculation, which has been reflected in a price discrepancy between copper trading on the COMEX and London Metal Exchange. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou know that delta has increased, so the markets have already priced in the tariffs. That\u2019s what it should be doing,\u201d he said, noting that the markets for some minor metals lack similar mechanisms. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe minor metals have no such price transparency or discovery,\u201d he noted. \u2018But if you have robust markets, they can be a really good bolster against what will always be a rapidly changing and uncertain political landscape.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Critical minerals deals in jeopardy <\/h3>\n

Aside from the added costs tariffs are expected create, they are doing damage to the friendly, decades-long relationship between Canada and the US, and concerns about joint projects are coming to the forefront.<\/p>\n

In December, the US Department of Defense (DoD) earmarked US$15.8 million to help advance a tungsten project in the Yukon. The deal, which also included C$12.9 million from the Canadian government, was hailed as \u201cclose collaboration among like-minded partners\u201d aimed at unlocking critical minerals development.<\/p>\n

It is part of the larger US-Canadian Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tungsten is used in a diverse set of DoD systems and is essential to national security,\u2019 Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy, said in a press release. <\/p>\n

\u2018The United States is overly reliant on overseas sources of tungsten and a secure North American supply for this commodity will mitigate one of our most critical material risks. This award also highlights the importance of the Department\u2019s partnership with our Canadian allies,\u2019 Taylor-Kale continued. <\/p>\n

Bazilian said while government investment is important, it\u2019s not sufficient and in this case has become uncertain. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been investment in Canada by the Pentagon. I\u2019m not sure that will continue,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to look at financial mechanisms that help investors look at demand \u2014 (they need) some kind of certainty on the demand side, whether it\u2019s an offtake agreement or something else. That\u2019s not going to come from the DoD \u2014 while the US DoD is massive, it\u2019s not big enough to to provide all of that downstream,\u201d Bazilian emphasized. <\/p>\n

The professor also noted that unclear capital structures and limited access to funds are creating challenges for investment, and without both supply and demand certainty, securing financing will remain difficult.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on investingnews.com<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Underscoring the global need for raw materials, Canada, the US, the UK, the EU and Australia have all established critical minerals lists aimed at streamlining and expediting projects up and down the supply chain. Reducing reliance on powerhouse critical minerals producer China is a key goal, but as the Trump administration focuses on tariffs and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}