Despite Biden's executive order to push for a domestic industry to mine and refine critical metals needed for electric vehicles, defense weapons, cell phones, and other electronics, his agencies are nixing critical metal mine development
On February 24, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order to bolster critical supply chains to help insulate the economy from future shortages of critical imported components by making the United States less reliant on foreign supplies. His executive order requires his administration to review critical supply chains with the aim of bolstering American manufacturing of semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and other cutting-edge technologies. The president ordered yearlong reviews of six sectors and a 100-day review of four classes of products where American manufacturers rely on imports: semiconductors, high-capacity batteries, pharmaceuticals and their active ingredients, and critical minerals and strategic materials, like rare earths. Lithium-ion batteries that power most electric vehicles, for example, rely on raw materials—like cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements—where China has a stranglehold on global supply.
