On April 15, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (EO) to begin an investigation on processed critical minerals and their derivatives as defined including rare earth elements. The Commerce Department is required to issue a “draft interim report” within 90 days with their final recommendations due by October. As a result of the investigation, the order confirmed there could be the “imposition of tariffs as well as other import restrictions”. Critical minerals is defined in the notice by the “Critical Minerals List” published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
On April 16, 2025, the Commerce Department, Bureau of Industry and Security, issued two notices for comment on the 232 Investigation on:
Interested parties are invited to submit written comments, data, analyses or other pertinent information to this investigation by May 7, 2025. Resolutions on the investigations could be released as early as June.