U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday invoked emergency powers to boost domestic production of critical minerals used widely across the economy as part of a broad effort to offset China’s near-total control of the sector. The move is the latest by Trump to increase U.S. energy and minerals production and comes amid an escalating trade conflict with China, Canada and other large minerals producers that supply American manufacturers. Lithium, nickel and other critical minerals are used in many electronics, and demand is expected to surge in coming years for production of electric-vehicle batteries. China is the world’s largest producer or processor of many critical minerals.
