President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at reducing U.S. reliance on China for defense‑critical minerals, directing military contractors to move away from supply chains linked to Beijing.
Without explicitly naming China, the executive order underscores the need to preserve U.S. military dominance in what the administration calls “an era of renewed great power competition.”
The United States must secure its supply chains against physical, cyber, and economic subversion, the order states.
The Department of Defense relies heavily on critical minerals, such as rare earths, for components used in its weapon systems.
China produces roughly two‑thirds of the world’s mined rare earths and refines about 90 % of them, giving Beijing substantial leverage over the supply chain.
The executive order, titled “Securing America’s Defense Supply Chains and Ensuring Domestic Acquisition of Critical Minerals,” requires military contractors to submit formal mitigation plans that identify non‑compliant sources, document exhaustive efforts to locate compliant material or prove its unavailability, and outline steps to remove non‑compliant inputs from their supply chains.
