There Are 16 Minerals America Produces None Of. The Government Now Calls That a National Security Threat.
A former Pentagon advisor on what Washington is doing about it and where he's looking on U.S. soil.
Washington, D.C., June 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While most Americans focus on their monthly bills, the U.S. government has quietly flagged a vulnerability buried in its own data: a list of minerals the country cannot produce at all. Financial researcher Jim Rickards released a new video presentation saying that gap is the opening behind his latest prediction.
The Dependency
According to the USGS 2026 Mineral Commodity Summaries, the United States was 100% net import reliant on 16 nonfuel mineral commodities in 2025, and more than 50% reliant on 50 of them. In plain terms, for these materials the country has no domestic production whatsoever.
The government's Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals states that this import dependence raises risks to "national security, defense readiness, price stability, and economic prosperity." The same list added copper, silver, and rhenium for the first time in 2025 all materials Rickards discusses.
Some of those dependencies trace back to a single source. USGS data show the U.S. is 100% reliant on imports for yttrium, with an estimated 93% of consumption met by imports from China, a material used in aerospace and defense applications. Rickards uses cases like that to argue the gap is not just an economic statistic but a strategic one.
What the Market Is Missing
Wall Street is not pricing this like a $2.7 trillion opportunity. That gap exists for a specific reason. The deposit Rickards is focused on has been blocked by the DOJ and the EPA under Biden-era regulations, which means the market still treats it as if those restrictions will never lift. Rickards argues that assumption is no longer sound.
He points to a pattern that has played out repeatedly in American history. When government permission finally arrives for a long-blocked asset, prices tend to move before production ever starts. It happened with Prudhoe Bay in Alaska after Congress passed the Trans Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act in 1973. It happened with Cheniere Energy after Washington approved natural gas export licenses, with shares climbing from roughly $3 to over $250 in 4 years. In both cases the asset was real and the value was obvious long before the green light came. The investors who moved early captured the bulk of the gains.
Rickards believes the same setup is in place now. The deposit exists. The resources have been independently assessed. The only thing holding the price down is a regulatory decision he expects to change. His case is that the time to look at it is before that happens, not after.
Why It Matters to You
Total dependence on materials the military and advanced electronics rely on is the kind of vulnerability that, once formally recognized, tends to draw money and policy quickly. And it is not confined to defense: the same minerals run through the consumer technology, vehicles, and energy systems ordinary Americans buy, so a supply shock abroad can surface as higher prices and thinner availability at home.
If the country cannot keep importing these minerals indefinitely, attention turns to what it can produce domestically and the question becomes which U.S. deposits could fill the gap.
About the Presentation
Rickards connects the government's own data to the domestic deposits he believes are positioned to benefit in a free presentation now available online. Click here to watch.
About Jim Rickards and Paradigm Press
Jim Rickards has advised the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the White House, and the Department of Defense across five decades in government and finance. He was part of the team that helped shape the Petrodollar Accord under Nixon, worked inside Reagan administration negotiations during the Iran hostage crisis, and advised Federal Reserve officials during the Long Term Capital Management crisis.
Paradigm Press is one of the most widely read independent financial research publishers in the United States, rated 4.8 stars on Google across more than 1,900 reviews. Free from advertiser influence, Paradigm Press is committed to helping everyday Americans understand the forces shaping their wealth.
Derek Warren Public Relations Manager Paradigm Press Group Email: dwarren@paradigmpressgroup.com
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