Presidential Determination Pursuant to Section 101 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as Amended, on Recoverable Critical Minerals and Materials

This Memorandum, the formal legal instrument behind the "Securing America’s Supply Chains" announcement, represents a historic application of the Defense Production Act (DPA).By signing this, the President has effectively moved the United States toward a strategic "closed-loop" economy, where industrial waste and scrap are no longer treated as commodities to be traded on the global market, but as sovereign assets essential to national survival.Under Section 101, the President can "prioritize" and "allocate" materials. By making the specific findings in Sec. 3(a)—that these materials are scarce and that their lack would cause "appreciable hardship"—the President triggers extraordinary powers.Export Bans: The Secretary of Commerce can now legally block a private company from selling its "black mass" (recycled battery content) or rare-earth scrap to a foreign buyer (e.g., a recycler in China).Mandatory Domestic Sale: The government can potentially force companies to sell their scrap to specific domestic "Department of War" contractors to ensure the U.S. military-industrial base has the inputs it needs.The definitions in Sec. 2(a) are the most significant part of the memo. They specifically target the "waste stream" of the modern world:Black Mass: This is the crushed, processed remains of lithium-ion batteries. By controlling black mass, the administration is securing the lithium, cobalt, and nickel needed for both EV fleets and military communications.Swarf: These are the metal filings and chips produced during the machining of high-end parts (like jet engines or armor).Rare-Earth Permanent Magnets: These are the "guts" of everything from F-35 fighter jets to wind turbines.The Exclusion of Copper: Mentioning Proclamation 10962 (July 30, 2025) indicates that the administration has already "dealt with" the copper market through separate tariff/import adjustments, showing a methodical, mineral-by-mineral takeover of the supply chain.Section 2(b) contains a massive grant of discretionary power. It allows the Secretary of Commerce to designate "any other mineral or material" as critical, "notwithstanding" previous executive orders from the Obama era (EO 13603).This gives the administration the flexibility to react instantly if a new material (like a specific semiconductor chemical or a new alloy) becomes scarce, without needing a new Presidential Determination.This memo provides the raw material "fuel" for Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vision of a $1.5 trillion military.If the U.S. is to build "munitions of the future faster than ever possible" (as Hegseth stated in the Cabinet meeting), it cannot afford to let the raw ingredients for those munitions be shipped overseas as scrap.This memorandum ensures that every ounce of rare-earth material already inside the United States stays inside the United States.Based on all the documents provided, the administration’s strategy for August 2026 is now fully clear:Hard Borders (The B&M Bridge): Physical control of ports of entry to ensure high-security, high-efficiency transit that serves American interests.Protectionist Barriers (QSP Proclamation): Using Section 201 to block foreign finished goods (Quartz) and force "reshoring."Resource Hoarding (DPA Memo): Using the DPA to stop the export of the materials needed to build those reshored industries.Loyalist Law Enforcement (Blanche): Ensuring a DOJ that will prosecute "fraud" and "circumvention" of these new trade and scrap-export rules.A "Lethal" Military (Department of War): Using the saved resources and reshored industry to build a $1.5 trillion "Made in the USA" defense machine.Conclusion: This is no longer just a "trade war." This is the construction of a Strategic Autarky, where the United States seeks to become a self-sustaining industrial island, using executive power to bypass global markets and prioritize the "National Defense" above all other economic considerations.