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President Trump signed an agreement with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to boost access to critical minerals and rare earths, as the U.S. looks to reduce reliance on China.

Cleveland-Cliffs said two of its sites, one in Michigan and another in Minnesota, show “key indicators of rare-earth mineralization.”

Trump said Oct. 10 that “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths.

President Donald Trump on Oct. 6 ordered approval of a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals.

“This is the Manhattan Project moment for rare earths,” said Joshua Ballard, CEO of USA Rare Earth, which plans next year to start making the rare-earth magnets that appear in many products.

The Trump administration has made the revival of U.S. metals and minerals production a key priority with a focus on copper, which is used in transportation.

Lithium's benchmark price in China is now down about 80% from its November 2022 record high. At that time, lithium miners were enjoying soaring profits and carmakers were seeing costs surge.

A threat by the Trump administration to dump a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring public companies to search their supply chains for African “conflict minerals” has drawn more than 275 written comments, many of them passionate on both sides of the issue.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and State Department are hoping to revise or eliminate an SEC rule requiring public companies to trace “conflict minerals” in their supply chains.