Trump Orders Defense Contractors to Halt China Critical-Mineral Purchases, Citing July 20 Supply-Chain Security Push
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 2
Trump Orders Defense Contractors to Halt China Critical-Mineral Purchases, Citing July 20 Supply-Chain Security Push
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 2
Summary
A July 20 executive order directs U.S. defense contractors to stop buying critical minerals from China, aiming to cut reliance on materials the administration says are vital to war-fighting capabilities.
The move fits a broader Pentagon effort to harden defense supply chains by onshoring production and expanding the domestic industrial base instead of depending on what the report calls unreliable foreign suppliers.
A recent ReconCraft-Uforce agreement to build drone boats in Portland, Oregon, is cited as a model: it would be the first U.S. manufacturing of the vessels and pairs American production with Ukrainian battlefield know-how.
The report links the minerals order to semiconductor policy as well, pointing to Sen. Marsha Blackburn's Chip EQUIP Act, introduced last December, to bar CHIPS-funded firms from buying certain China-linked manufacturing tools.
Taken together, the measures show the administration tying procurement, allied partnerships and trade restrictions into a wider strategy to secure defense and technology supply chains on U.S. soil.