New Mineral Security Act Creates Global Alliance, Funds Domestic Mining with New Import Duties

The Restoring American Mineral Security Act of 2025 is a serious attempt to break the U.S. reliance on China for critical minerals—the stuff that makes everything from your smartphone to an electric vehicle battery work. The bill's core mechanism is the creation of a new international trade group, the Critical Minerals Security Alliance, and a dedicated U.S. trust fund to bankroll domestic production.

The Critical Minerals Security Alliance: A Trade Bloc with Teeth

This Alliance is the centerpiece of the bill (Section 4). The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is authorized to negotiate membership with allies, but there’s a steep price of entry. To join, a country must agree to raise its import duties on critical minerals and derivative products from "foreign countries of concern" (like China and Venezuela) to a level equal to the current U.S. tariffs on China. In exchange, Alliance members get free trade among themselves, meaning no duties on minerals or derivative products imported from fellow members. This immediately exempts member countries from existing U.S. Section 301 and Section 232 duties, which is a major trade concession.

This is essentially forming a mineral-focused trade cartel. The goal is clear: use collective economic weight to force diversification away from China. However, this move is a high-stakes gamble. Requiring allies to immediately adopt high tariffs against major trading partners could create economic friction, and the USTR has significant power here to negotiate complex agreements that immediately change U.S. tariff policy, subject only to a Congressional disapproval vote.

Matching Tariffs and the Cost of Security

The other major trade component is found in Section 5. Once the first Alliance agreement is signed, the U.S. will impose matching tariffs on critical minerals and their derivative products coming from any "foreign country of concern." This means if you are a U.S. manufacturer importing a specialized magnet (a "select derivative product") from a Chinese supplier, that product will now face the same high duties as other Section 301 tariffs already in place. For companies reliant on these inputs, this means an immediate, likely significant increase in material costs. While the long-term goal is supply chain security, the short-term reality for consumers and businesses could be higher prices for everything from battery packs to radar systems.

A Dedicated Fund for Domestic Production

To offset these potential costs and jumpstart U.S. capacity, the bill creates a Trust Fund (Section 6) dedicated entirely to supporting U.S. critical mineral projects. This fund is financed by the new duties collected on imported critical minerals. Crucially, this money is automatically spent without needing Congress to approve it every year.

The funds are split three ways:

• 60% goes to the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office for U.S. mining, processing, and manufacturing projects.
• 20% goes to the Department of Defense for similar domestic projects.
• 20% goes to the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to support projects in Alliance member countries.

This is the bill’s biggest benefit to domestic industry: a dedicated, self-sustaining stream of capital to build out the entire supply chain, from digging the ore to manufacturing the final permanent magnets. The DFC portion even includes a special exemption allowing it to fund projects in wealthier allied nations, provided the President certifies the project is vital to U.S. national security or economic policy, and that the minerals produced are offered first to U.S. entities.

What This Means for Your Wallet and Your Job

This bill is a massive bet on trade policy as industrial policy. If you work in manufacturing, this could mean new domestic processing plants and more stable supply lines down the road. If you’re a consumer, you might see the short-term costs of new tariffs trickle down into higher prices for certain electronics or EVs, though the hope is that a diversified supply chain eventually lowers long-term volatility.

In essence, the Restoring American Mineral Security Act is trading immediate, predictable costs (tariffs) for long-term strategic security (a non-China supply chain), backed by billions in dedicated funding for U.S. industry.