Recognizing the strategic importance of critical minerals to the U.S. industrial base and America’s continuing technological dominance, the Trump Administration has taken foundational legal and policy steps to reduce dependence on foreign sources of key minerals. In December 2017, the President issued an executive order that declared U.S. dependence on foreign source minerals a threat to “national security” and promulgated “A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals.” In May 2018, the Department of the Interior issued a list of 35 non-fuel mineral commodities deemed “critical” for their necessity and degree of foreign source dependency. In addition, the Trump Administration has stated plans to scrutinize corruption in Africa’s extractives industries, which include, significantly, cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s largest cobalt producer where Chinese firms, and others, hold significant positions.