Major US steelmaker pivots to rare earth minerals as China tightens grip

A major U.S. steelmaker is looking to help kickstart domestic production of rare earth minerals amid China’s move to block access amid its trade dispute with the Trump administration.

Cleveland-Cliffs, a steelmaker headquartered in Ohio, announced the rare earths plan on the company’s quarterly earnings call on Monday.

“Beyond steelmaking, the renewed importance of rare earths has driven us to re-focus on this potential opportunity at our upstream mining assets,” said Cleveland-Cliffs’ CEO Lourenco Goncalves on the earnings call. “It is our obligation to do so as a company with our geological footprint.”

“We have looked at all of our ore bodies and tailings basins, and two sites in particular, one in Michigan and one in Minnesota, show the most potential. At these two sites, geological surveys show key indicators of rare earth mineralization,” he said.

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Goncalves said that the move aligns Cleveland-Cliffs with the Trump administration’s efforts to increase domestic production of rare earths and diversify sourcing of those key metals – which are used in everything from computers to smartphones to cruise missiles.

“If successful, it would align Cleveland-Cliffs with the broader national strategy for critical material independence, similar to what we achieved in steel,” Goncalves said. 

“American manufacturing shouldn’t rely on China or any foreign nation for essential minerals, and Cliffs intends to be part of the solution,” he added.

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Administration officials said last week that President Donald Trump is prepared to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month to address trade issues, including rare earths.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a press conference that the U.S. doesn’t want to escalate a trade conflict with China and said that Trump is prepared to meet with Xi in South Korea later this month.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told FOX Business’ Edward Lawrence that there is room for a positive economic relationship between the U.S. and China if they can make trade more balanced.

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“To paraphrase the secretary in one of our recent meetings with the Chinese, this is the last time we want to be talking about rare earths with the Chinese,” Greer said. “Unfortunately, that is not the last time they want to be talking about it.” 

“The reality is, there are a lot of areas where we can trade with the Chinese,” he continued. “Our trade is wildly imbalanced. So it needs to be more balanced. And there is a lot of, as the secretary said, areas of risk.”

Earlier this month, Trump threatened to impose “massive” tariffs on China after the Chinese government began telling countries around the world that they intend to implement export controls on rare earths, which he said would hold the world “captive” through what he deemed a “sinister and hostile move.”

The president said that following China’s move there seemed to be “no reason” to meet with Xi due to the rare earth dispute.