Highlights

• Executive order leverages Defense Production Act to accelerate domestic mineral production and challenge China's resource dominance.
• New National Energy Dominance Council coordinates cross-agency efforts to fast-track mineral extraction, permitting, and supply chain development.
• The multi-agency approach empowers the Departments of Defense, Interior, Energy, and Agriculture to secure U.S. critical minerals independence.

President Trump’s recent executive order on critical minerals marks a bold and sweeping mobilization of federal authority to confront China’s dominance in rare earths and reboot America’s resource independence. Leveraging the Defense Production Act (opens in a new tab) (DPA), a declared National Energy Emergency, and a suite of legal tools—from federal land laws to government lending frameworks—the EO empowers the executive branch to accelerate domestic mineral production, open access to federal lands, cut red tape, and mobilize capital. It isn’t just an order—it’s a declaration that the U.S. is moving from reactive to aggressive in the global minerals race.

See Rare Earth Exchanges on the executive order and a critique of why the move does not go far enough.

The newly empowered National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) (opens in a new tab) will coordinate the effort, acting as the nerve center for cross-agency strategy, permitting acceleration, and industry outreach.

Key agencies—the Departments of Defense, Interior, Energy, and Agriculture—are tasked with everything from fast-tracking leases to directing capital and managing supply chain risk. Financial agencies like the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Export-Import Bank are now equipped to fund new mining projects and secure international feedstock for domestic processing. Small mining companies and tech innovators are not left behind—the Small Business Administration is directed to bring them into the national effort.

For platforms like Rare Earth Exchanges, this executive order is both an opportunity and a call to action. With plans ongoing to include real-time mine data, a growing directory of U.S. projects, and supply-demand intelligence, Rare Earth Exchanges is well-positioned to become a sort of “Bloomberg Terminal” of critical minerals.

By plugging into the federal ecosystem—via the NEDC, DFC, Permitting Council, or Defense Department—the platform can serve as a vital transparency and intelligence tool, aiding everything from permitting oversight to national security planning. This is more than policy; it’s an open invitation for public-private partnerships that can reshape America’s resource future.