U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had opted for now against imposing tariffs on rare earths, lithium and other critical minerals, and instead ordered his administration to seek supplies from international trading partners…By acknowledging the country is far from being self-reliant for its critical minerals needs, though, it may rankle the domestic mining sector…Trump ordered U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to "enter into negotiations with trading partners to adjust the imports of (critical minerals) so that such imports will not threaten to impair the national security of the United States."…The negotiations, Trump said, should promote the use of price floors for critical minerals, a step long sought by Western miners and policymakers. G7 finance ministers and those from other major economies like Australia met in Washington earlier this week to discuss such a step, for example…Lutnick's report found that the U.S. is "too reliant on foreign sources" of critical minerals, lacks access to a secure supply chain, and is experiencing "unsustainable price volatility" for the materials, with all those factors fueling a "significant national security vulnerability that could be exploited by foreign actors."…China is a top global producer of more than half of the 54 minerals considered critical by the U.S. Geological Survey…"Mining a mineral domestically does not safeguard the national security of the United States if the United States remains dependent on a foreign country for the processing of that mineral," Trump said in the order

China’s auto exports surged 21% in 2025, driven by rising shipments of electric vehicles, while domestic demand slowed, an industry association said Wednesday…Confronted with grueling competition in an overcrowded domestic market, Chinese auto manufacturers have stepped up sales around the globe…As they expanded further into overseas markets last year, exports of new energy vehicles such as EVs and plug-in hybrids doubled from the previous year to 2.6 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers…Chinese car exports are expected to continue to grow this year, as its automakers maneuver against an intensifying price war at home as demand weakened…Key export destinations will likely remain Russia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia, which together accounted for roughly 70% of 2025 volumes, he said…China's BYD surpassed Tesla as the world’s biggest EV maker in 2025. 

The Democratic Republic of Congo is sending the United States a list of mineral projects open to American investment as Washington steps up efforts to counter China’s dominance in critical supply chains…The move follows a Dec. 4 accord that gives US companies privileged access to Congo’s vast reserves of copper, cobalt, lithium and tantalum, materials central to electric vehicles, defence systems and advanced electronics. Congo is the world’s second-largest copper producer and the leading supplier of cobalt, a key battery metal…Chinese companies, such as CMOC, currently dominate production of both metals in the Congo, where copper and cobalt are often mined together. US firms have historically stayed away, citing conflict, corruption and logistical challenges, while Chinese operators have expanded rapidly…Kinshasa hopes a wave of American investment will dilute that dominance. In 2007, Congo granted Chinese miners tax breaks running until 2040 in exchange for promised investments of $9 billion, of which only about $6 billion materialized. At the time, Western governments showed little interest in curbing sales to Chinese buyers…By the time US President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, Chinese firms controlled about 80% of Congo’s mining output, including Tenke Fungurume, once owned by a US company and now the world’s second-largest source of cobalt, run by CMOC…The minerals pact forms part of a broader US-brokered peace agreement between Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, aimed at ending decades of violence in eastern Congo. 

Three decades after Fortune Minerals Ltd. drilled the 1996 discovery hole at NICO, the true value of the bismuth-, cobalt-, copper-, and gold-rich deposit roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, is finally being recognized…Based on a 2020 development plan optimized from a 2014 feasibility study, these reserves would support a mine at the Northwest Territories project and an associated refinery in Alberta capable of producing an average of 1,800 metric tons of battery-grade cobalt sulfate, 1,700 metric tons of bismuth, 300 metric tons of copper, and 47,000 oz of gold annually over the first 14 years…Aside from being a mixed critical minerals deposit that is hedged with fortunate gold credits, the importance of the bismuth in this deposit is a facet of NICO that has been poorly understood and largely overlooked…While NICO's cobalt and gold credits draw the most attention, its bismuth is perhaps the project's most misunderstood strategic asset. Bismuth demand has surged due to its use in high-tech alloys, medical devices, and, increasingly, thermal management systems for AI data centers. With China controlling more than 80% of global bismuth supply, Beijing's export restrictions last year jolted Western governments and industries into seeking more reliable sources…Such searches inevitably lead to NICO, which hosts a whopping 12% of the world's known bismuth reserves…The U.S. and Canadian governments recognized NICO's strategic importance even before China imposed bismuth export restrictions. In 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense (now Department of War), Natural Resources Canada, and Alberta Innovates awarded Fortune C$17 million ($12.2 million) to update its feasibility study and complete remaining permitting for both the mine in NWT and refinery in Alberta…In a further show of government support, Prosper NWT loaned Fortune C$3.8 million ($2.7 million) to complete the purchase of the industrial site for the Alberta refinery…Fortune's integrated mine-to-refinery model has drawn the attention of global mining major Rio Tinto, which is evaluating a partnership to supplement NICO's production with critical minerals recovered from its own U.S. operations…Over the past two years, Rio Tinto has worked with Fortune to assess whether bismuth- and cobalt-bearing byproducts from its Kennecott smelter in Utah could be blended with NICO concentrates for processing at the planned Alberta refinery…A strong partnership with one of the world's largest mining companies – combined with coordinated U.S. and Canadian support – could help Fortune Minerals finally advance NICO to construction roughly 30 years after the discovery of this unique gold-hedged critical minerals deposit in Canada's Northwest Territories.