By Jarrett Renshaw and Ernest Scheyder
(Reuters) -The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a new list of critical minerals it deems essential to the U.S. economy and national security, adding copper, which is vital to electric vehicles, power grids, and data centers, as well as metallurgical coal, which is used to make coke.
The Interior Department’s list guides federal investments and permitting decisions and helps shape the government’s broader minerals strategy.
The administration is expanding the list amid efforts to boost domestic mining and cut reliance on imports, particularly from economic rival China.
The list serves as a blueprint for Washington’s push to secure supplies of materials needed for defense, manufacturing, and clean energy technologies. It determines which projects qualify for federal incentives, informs national stockpiling and research priorities, and signals to private investors where the government sees long-term strategic value.
Officials and industry leaders say strengthening domestic production could help insulate the U.S. from potential supply shocks or export restrictions imposed by competitors like China, which dominates global refining of many critical minerals.
“Critical minerals are essential for national security, economic stability, and supply-chain resilience because they underpin key industries, drive technological innovation, and support critical infrastructure vital for a modern American economy,” the Interior Department said in announcing the list.
Copper is used widely across the global economy in power generation, electronics and construction.
Freeport-McMoRan, the largest U.S. copper producer with seven mines and control of one of the country’s two smelters, said earlier this year it could generate more than $500 million annually in tax credits tied to the 2022 U.S. Inflation Reduction Act if the red metal were declared critical by Washington.
The Phoenix-based company was not immediately available to comment on Thursday.
The average grade, or percentage of copper in rock deposits, in Freeport’s U.S. mines is lower than elsewhere, boosting costs and making the U.S. the company’s least profitable region. That fact largely explains why Freeport pushed for the designation.
“We’re not looking for handouts, but if the government is trying to incentivize domestic (copper) production, it’s important to recognize that the U.S. doesn’t have the same grades that we have internationally,” Freeport CEO Kathleen Quirk told Reuters in March.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Paul Simao)
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