Today U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross initiated a vanadium imports inquiry.
The agency is assessing whether the domestic industry is “…adversely impacted by unfairly traded low-priced imports, limited export markets due to value-added tax regimes in other vanadium producing countries, and the distortionary effect of Chinese and Russian industrial policies.”
Commerce is responding to the petitioners AMG Vanadium LLC and U.S. Vanadium who made the plea.
“Vanadium is utilized in our national defense and critical infrastructure, and is integral to certain aerospace applications,” said Secretary Ross. “We will conduct a thorough, fair, and transparent investigation to determine whether vanadium imports threaten to impair U.S. national security.”
Earlier this year the Trump administration proposed policies to protect and build up its domestic uranium capacity, including a proposed $150 million per year of purchases of domestically produced uranium over 10 years. Regarding rare earths, the US Army has requested proposals to build one or more REE-processing plants in the U.S.
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