Trump wants Canada’s critical minerals. Here’s why they matter so much – National

U.S. President Donald Trump is making the race for critical minerals a key part of his agenda — and Canada’s rich reserves are a prime target for his ambitions.

Dozens of minerals are being increasingly traded around the world for technologies such as smartphones, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, as well as modern military equipment.

For years, the U.S. has been trying to reduce its reliance on China for those minerals, turning to like-minded producers like Canada.

“Canada has strategic reserves the U.S. doesn’t have a lot of,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical mineral studies program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a U.S. think tank.

Trump is now looking to accelerate that shift.

On Tuesday, he told a joint session of Congress he will be signing new executive orders this week that will “dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the U.S.A.”

But Trump is also pushing mineral-rich countries to join his cause — even by threatening their sovereignty.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told business leaders last month, in comments caught on a hot mic, that Trump’s repeated threats to annex Canada and make it the 51st U.S. state are “very real” because of the desire to control Canada’s critical minerals.

The White House hasn’t denied those ambitions, and Trump has talked openly about acquiring Greenland for its own mineral deposits, citing national security.

Trump is also pushing Ukraine to sign an economic agreement that would give the U.S. access to its critical minerals to ensure American backing in peace talks with Russia.

The agreement has yet to be sealed following a blow-up in the Oval Office last week between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had travelled to Washington to sign the deal.

Jose W. Fernandez, the former undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and environment who helped craft the Biden administration’s critical minerals strategy, said Trump’s “colonial” tactics are running counter to developing the positive trade relationships the U.S. needs.

“Deals are done … by two willing parties, and companies and countries don’t typically like to have a gun to their heads when they do a transaction,” he told Global News.

The Canadian government’s critical minerals strategy released in late 2022 identified 31 materials it classified as “critical.”

Potash — a key export to the U.S. used in fertilizers — aluminum, uranium and titanium are included in the list.

Six minerals — lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and rare earth elements — are particularly key and hold “the most significant potential for Canadian economic growth,” the government said at the time.

Those minerals are the ones most frequently found in sought-after components like rechargeable batteries and motors for EVs, as well as smartphones, solar panels, telecommunications and consumer electronics such as televisions.

The rise in artificial intelligence over the past two years has further increased demand for copper to power data centres and internet connectivity.

Canada has one of the world’s largest reserves of rare earth elements — elements Trump has frequently mentioned — and is a top global supplier of nickel, cobalt and lithium.

Although Canada exports far more critical minerals than it imports, according to Natural Resources Canada, a report last month from the Center for Strategic & International Studies found the U.S. imports between 50 and 100 per cent of 41 out of 50 critical minerals listed by the U.S. Geological Survey.

China has come to dominate the critical minerals industry, not just through its own vast reserves but also by buying controlling stakes in mining companies in Canada and other countries home to those minerals. At least 60 per cent of worldwide production is controlled by China.

“China has repeatedly shown its willingness to weaponize these minerals” through export restrictions and bans on several materials over the past two years, the CSIS report said, underscoring the need to reduce reliance.

“If all [critical minerals] are controlled by China, then China can occupy this kind of critical chokepoint,” said Diya Jiang, a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies and a PhD candidate in political science at McGill University.

“If they cut off supply of these critical minerals to North America, then that really creates a huge problem for the U.S. and for us, because we wouldn’t be able to produce any of this essential equipment as well as critical technology.”

Both Trump, during his first term, and Biden issued executive orders to strengthen and secure critical minerals supply chains in an effort to move away from China.

In 2022, when Fernandez was overseeing the U.S. State Department’s creation of the 15-member Minerals Security Partnership to broaden the critical minerals supply chain, he says Canada was the first country he reached out to.

That partnership led to investments in Canada and other mineral-rich member countries, as well as dialogue with a sister forum of 15 other producer nations — including Ukraine and Greenland.

“In my experience with producing countries, countries with a lot of resources — not just Canada, but Argentina, Chile, the Congo, Serbia, others — what they want is investment, and they want the right investment,” he said.

“They want investment that will benefit their people and will comply with their laws. No one’s looking to establish a colonial relationship.”

A separate report from CSIS said Canada would be a key critical minerals ally for the U.S., due to its more substantial mining and refining sectors and favourable business environment.

“While fears of a trade war have rattled U.S.-Canada relations, cooperation between the two countries remains essential to safeguard North American prosperity in the face of rising threats,” the report said.

In the wake of Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico, Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday suggested U.S. reliance on nickel from Ontario, among other critical minerals, could be exploited in retaliation — including cutting off exports.

“Our key area — I’m telling you, it’s a key area — is those critical minerals,” Ford said. “That’s our linchpin, right there.”

At the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto — one of the largest mining conferences in the Western Hemisphere — stakeholders said Canada should invest in boosting critical mineral production and diversifying its own supply chains.

“[Trump is] looking at Canada and sees the wealth of resources we have,” said Brett Kagetsu, a partner at Gowling WLG, a law firm that represents several Canadian mining companies.

“We have critical minerals in our country, and they’re just sitting there waiting for us to mine. This is our time.”