The evolution and enlightenments of the connotation of critical mineral policies in the USA

Since 1939, the USA formulated the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act, focusing on the reserve, development and utilization, evaluation and early warning of critical minerals, successively formulated the National Critical Materials Act, the Strategic and Critical Minerals Act, etc., and also promulgated the Rare Earths Supply-Chain Technology and Resources Transformation Act, the Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act, etc.for rare earth.The early critical mineral policies of the USA mainly aimed at ensuring the materials needed for basic civil use.With the increasingly fierce competition for critical minerals, increasing dependence on foreign countries and increasing geopolitical risks, ensuring the safe and reliable supply of critical minerals needed for national defense security has become the primary task of the USA government.President Donald Trump focused on solving the vulnerability of the whole supply-chain of critical minerals, frequently intervened in the development and utilization of critical minerals through administrative orders, industrial and tax policies, and formed “critical minerals alliance” with nine countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, so as to reduce the dependence on Chinese critical minerals and weaken Chinese geopolitical influence.Based on the analysis of the evolution of the critical mineral policies in USA, this paper proposes the formulation of the Critical Mineral Act, the Critical Mineral Reserve Act, establishes the dynamic adjustment mechanism of critical minerals, and builds the “Fate Community of Critical Minerals” along “the Belt and Road” countries, and establishes the mutually beneficial cooperation mechanism of “Government Industry University Research and Utilization” with domestic scientific research institutions, universities and enterprises.