2026-07-27T10:03:07.156Z / 路透社
7月27日 路透社电 – 美国总统唐纳德·特朗普此前推动在明年1月前结束华盛顿对中国关键矿产的依赖，但这一目标正与一个严峻现实发生冲突：美国矿商和冶炼企业尚未做好准备。
特朗普上任以来已将美国关键矿产的开采与冶炼列为国家安全优先事项，向近150家矿产企业投入数百亿美元，以打破中国对武器及其他战略产品供应链的垄断。
根据联邦法规，到2027年1月1日，美国国防工业及其他制造商必须停止从中国、俄罗斯、伊朗或朝鲜采购稀土、磁铁、钨、钼和钽，而如今距离这一截止日期仅五个多月。
多年来华盛顿一直试图限制此类进口，但由于美国本土供应无法满足需求，政府 routinely 向企业发放豁免许可。
特朗普在5月10日的Truth Social平台帖子中抨击此类豁免，称：“所有联邦机构必须采购美国产品——没有任何借口！” 上周一，他签署了一项行政命令，进一步加大国防承包商获取豁免的难度。
但据16位行业高管、投资者、分析师和政策制定者的采访显示，现实情况是美国矿产企业远未达到满足国内需求的水平。
例如，根据理特咨询公司的数据，2025年美国对最常见类型稀土磁铁的需求约为4.8万吨，而本土供应仅为300吨。美国企业预计到今年年底的产能将达到5000吨。
稀土是华盛顿认定的60种关键矿产之一，在被加工成用于制造武器、汽车、计算机及其他产品的磁铁之前，必须先经过冶炼环节。
美国上一次生产钨是在2015年，上一次生产钽则是在1959年。Guardian Metal Resources（股票代码：GMET.L，[点击打开新标签页]）正努力在2028年前开设美国本土钨矿，而Lion Rock Resources（股票代码：ROAR.V，[点击打开新标签页]）正在南达科他州开发钽矿，尚未公布投产时间表。
矿产行业分析师兼顾问克里斯·贝里表示，美国矿业几乎没有机会在明年1月前实现足够的矿产产量以取消豁免。
“要建成所需的采矿基础设施并形成竞争力，还需要多年时间，”贝里说。
美国拥有大多数关键矿产的储量，但缺乏其中许多矿产的开采和冶炼能力。中国在20世纪末逐渐主导矿产冶炼行业，目前控制着全球超过80%的该领域市场。国际能源署本月警告称，如果北京像近年来不时采取的那样对稀土实施出口限制，全球价值6.5万亿美元的制造业将面临风险。
当被置评请求时，白宫援引了特朗普的行政命令，该命令规定，只有当承包商证明已“竭尽全力”避免使用中国材料，并制定了摆脱此类供应的时间表时，才能发放豁免。
五角大楼未回应置评请求。
美国稀土投资多年来一直受到多数矿产价格持续低迷的阻碍，华盛顿将此归咎于中国对本国生产商提供补贴并以低价产品充斥市场，导致美国项目无利可图。
中国多次表示，其遵守世界贸易组织的全球贸易规则，并致力于维护市场稳定。中国驻华盛顿大使馆的一名代表未进一步置评。
由五角大楼支持的矿产冶炼初创企业Ucore Rare Metals（股票代码：UCU.V，[点击打开新标签页]）开发了一种名为RapidSX的冶炼技术，该公司认为该技术与行业标准的溶剂萃取法类似，但速度更快、更清洁且成本更低。
Ucore原计划在2025年开始冶炼，但由于称五角大楼的需求发生变化，已重新调整计划。公司首席执行官帕特·瑞安告诉路透社，该公司最早要到2027年才能开始部分生产。
“整个供应链能在2027年前准备就绪吗？天呐，那将是一场硬仗，”瑞安说。
特朗普推动储备进口矿产
特朗普政府于2月启动了“Vault计划”，投入120亿美元为美国制造商储备关键矿产。官员们在4月承认，他们最初需要从“世界任何地方”采购矿产，其中包括中国。
国防承包商洛克希德·马丁（股票代码：LMT.N，[点击打开新标签页]）首席执行官吉姆·泰莱特在本月早些时候的一次会议上表示，该公司已向国防部提交了一份希望纳入储备的矿产清单。
这种储备推动令美国矿产企业感到不满，他们表示需要国防承包商向他们下单。
“国防承包商一直认为他们可以继续采购中国产品，”马萨诸塞州矿产初创企业Phoenix Tailings的首席执行官尼克·迈尔斯说。该公司上月获得五角大楼5亿美元贷款，用于建设一座冶炼厂。“如果一直发放豁免，国防工业永远不会停止采购中国产品。”
国防承包商波音（股票代码：BA.N，[点击打开新标签页]）、通用动力（股票代码：GD.N，[点击打开新标签页]）、亨廷顿英戈尔斯工业（股票代码：HII.N，[点击打开新标签页]）、诺斯罗普·格鲁曼（股票代码：NOC.N，[点击打开新标签页]）和RTX（股票代码：RTX.N，[点击打开新标签页]）均未回应置评请求。L3Harris Technologies（股票代码：LHX.N，[点击打开新标签页]）拒绝置评。
美国矿产冶炼项目面临延误与不确定性
矿产冶炼的复杂性拖慢了美国项目的进度。
法律与游说公司Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck的萨曼莎·卡尔-约德表示，与韩国、日本及其他盟友的合作可能为制造商提供一座桥梁，帮助他们度过美国供应商扩大产能的过渡期。
在该领域最大的美国企业中，获得五角大楼资金支持的MP Materials（股票代码：MP.N，[点击打开新标签页]）耗时数年调试其溶剂萃取冶炼设备，首席执行官吉姆·利廷斯基将此描述为“艰苦细致”的过程。
MP已在得克萨斯州建成一座磁铁工厂，并表示预计到今年年底，其首批客户通用汽车（股票代码：GM.N，[点击打开新标签页]）将批准使用部分磁铁。MP为五角大楼建造的另一座磁铁工厂计划于2028年投产。
在印第安纳州马里昂市，ReElement Technologies计划采用制药行业常用的色谱技术进行矿产冶炼。这种技术此前从未被用于处理大批量矿产。
ReElement表示，其目标是在今年内建成处理1万吨锗或其他矿产的产能。在一份声明中，ReElement首席执行官马克·延森表示，该公司的锗生产“任何产量都能盈利”。ReElement本月早些时候获得了五角大楼2500万美元的投资。
一位了解该公司战略的消息人士透露，另一家企业USA Rare Earth（股票代码：USAR.O，[点击打开新标签页]）在转向溶剂萃取法之前，花了五年多时间研究色谱技术。正在南卡罗来纳州建设磁铁工厂的USA Rare Earth拒就其冶炼研究置评。
在其他地方，上月获得五角大楼7.25亿美元贷款的Energy Fuels（股票代码：UUUU.A，[点击打开新标签页]）计划在今年年底前开始少量冶炼稀土，并到2029年实现每年6000吨的产能。该公司正在收购一家现有的美国磁铁生产商。
Ucore、Energy Fuels和ReElement均已同意向磁铁制造商Vulcan Elements供应稀土，该公司正在北卡罗来纳州建设一座制造工厂，计划于2030年前投产。
Trump may need to allow Chinese minerals as US industry struggles to meet 2027 deadline
2026-07-27T10:03:07.156Z / Reuters
July 27 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to end Washington’s reliance on Chinese critical minerals by January is colliding with a stark reality: American miners and processors aren’t ready.
Trump has made U.S. mining and processing of critical minerals a national security priority since returning to office, pouring tens of billions of dollars into nearly 150 minerals companies to loosen China’s grip on supply chains for weapons and other strategic products.
The defense industry and other manufacturers are now just over five months away from a January 1, 2027, deadline under federal regulations to stop purchasing rare earths, magnets, tungsten, molybdenum and tantalum from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea.
Washington has been trying to limit such imports for years but has routinely granted companies waivers because the U.S. supply can’t meet the demand.
Trump railed against such waivers in a May 10 post on his Truth Social platform, saying: “ALL FEDERAL AGENCIES MUST BUY AMERICAN — NO EXCUSES!” Last Monday, he signed an executive order making it even harder for defense contractors to obtain waivers.
But the reality is that U.S. minerals companies are nowhere close to meeting domestic needs, according to interviews with 16 industry executives, investors, analysts and policymakers.
In 2025, U.S. demand for the most-common type of rare earth magnet, for example, was roughly 48,000 metric tons while domestic sources supplied 300 metric tons, according to data from the Arthur D. Little consultancy. U.S. firms are on track to have the capacity to produce 5,000 metric tons by year-end.
Rare earths, which are among the 60 minerals considered critical by Washington, must be processed before they are turned into magnets used to make weapons, automobiles, computers and other products.
U.S. firms haven’t produced tungsten since 2015 and tantalum since 1959. Guardian Metal Resources
(GMET.L), opens new tab
is working to open a U.S. tungsten mine by 2028, while Lion Rock Resources
(ROAR.V), opens new tab
is developing a tantalum mine in South Dakota, with no timeline for opening.
Chris Berry, a minerals industry analyst and consultant, said the U.S. industry has little chance of producing enough minerals to end waivers by January.
“It’s going to take many more years to get the needed infrastructure in the ground to compete,” said Berry.
The United States has reserves of most critical minerals; what it lacks is the capacity to mine and process many of them. China grew to dominate the minerals-refining industry in the late 20th century and controls more than 80% of the sector today. The International Energy Agency warned this month that $6.5 trillion of global manufacturing is at risk if Beijing imposes export restrictions on rare earths, as it has periodically in recent years.
Asked for comment, the White House referred to Trump’s executive order, which says waivers can only be issued if a contractor shows an “exhaustive effort” to avoid Chinese material and has a timeline for weaning itself off such supply.
The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.
U.S. rare earths investment has been hindered by persistently low prices for many minerals, which Washington blames on China subsidizing its producers and flooding the market with cheap products, thus making American projects unprofitable.
China has repeatedly said it abides by World Trade Organization rules on global trade and works to ensure stable markets. A representative for the Chinese embassy in Washington had no further comment.
Ucore Rare Metals
(UCU.V), opens new tab
, a minerals refining startup backed by the Pentagon, has developed a processing technology known as RapidSX that it believes is similar to but faster, cleaner and cheaper than the industry standard solvent extraction.
Ucore had planned to start refining by 2025 but has reworked its plans due to what it says are changing demands from the Pentagon. It now won’t begin some production until 2027 at the earliest, company CEO Pat Ryan told Reuters.
“Can the entire supply chain be propped up by 2027? Boy, I tell you, that’s a battle,” Ryan said.
TRUMP MOVES TO STOCKPILE IMPORTED MINERALS
The Trump administration in February launched Project Vault, a $12 billion effort to stockpile critical minerals for American manufacturers. Officials acknowledged in April that they will need to initially buy minerals from “anywhere in the world,” including China.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin
(LMT.N), opens new tab
has given a list of minerals to the Department of Defense it would like stockpiled, CEO Jim Taiclet said at a conference earlier this month.
That push for stockpiling irks U.S. minerals companies who say they need defense contractors to place orders with them.
“Defense contractors have just assumed they can keep buying Chinese products,” said Nick Myers, CEO of Massachusetts-based Phoenix Tailings, a minerals startup that last month received a $500 million Pentagon loan to build a processing facility. “The defense industry is never going to stop if you keep giving waivers.”
Defense contractors Boeing
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, General Dynamics
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, Huntington Ingalls Industries
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, Northrop Grumman
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and RTX
(RTX.N), opens new tab
did not respond to requests for comment. L3Harris Technologies
(LHX.N), opens new tab
declined to comment.
DELAYS, UNCERTAINTIES FOR US MINERALS REFINING PROJECTS
The complexity of refining minerals has slowed down U.S. projects.
Partnerships with South Korea, Japan and other allies may offer a bridge for manufacturers until U.S. suppliers can ramp up operations, said Samantha Carl-Yoder of the law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
Among the biggest U.S. companies in the field, MP Materials
(MP.N), opens new tab
, which is financially supported by the Pentagon, spent years calibrating its solvent extraction processing equipment, part of what CEO Jim Litinsky described as a “painstaking” process.
MP has built a magnet facility in Texas and said it expects to have some magnets approved for use by its first customer, General Motors
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, by the end of the year. A separate magnet facility that MP is building for the Pentagon is slated to open in 2028.
In Marion, Indiana, ReElement Technologies plans to process minerals using a technology common in the pharmaceutical industry. Known as chromatography, the technology has never been used to process large volumes of minerals.
ReElement said it aims this year to build the capacity to process 10,000 metric tons of germanium or other minerals. In a statement, ReElement CEO Mark Jensen said the company’s germanium production is “profitable at any volume.” ReElement received a $25 million Pentagon investment earlier this month.
Another company, USA Rare Earth
(USAR.O), opens new tab
, spent more than five years studying chromatography before pivoting to solvent extraction, a source with direct knowledge of the company’s strategy said. USA Rare Earth, which is building a South Carolina magnet facility, declined to comment on its processing research.
Elsewhere, Energy Fuels
(UUUU.A), opens new tab
, which last month received a $725 million Pentagon loan, plans to be processing small amounts of rare earths by the end of the year and 6,000 metric tons annually by 2029. It is buying an existing U.S. magnet producer.
Ucore, Energy Fuels and ReElement have each agreed to supply rare earths to magnet maker Vulcan Elements, which is building a North Carolina manufacturing plant, slated to open by 2030.
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