Clarity Sought on Critical Minerals as US Floats Trade Probe

The White House is floating the idea of potentially launching a tariff investigation into critical minerals imports, causing further confusion on a key market prioritized by President Donald Trump.

The Trump administration is looking at carrying out an investigation of such imports, a White House official said Wednesday, similar to the probe already launched for copper under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. The official didn’t offer a timeline or say whether it would also be a 232 investigation. But the potential for such an action is why these minerals were excluded from Trump’s latest tariffs, the official said. ...