Silverado Policy Accelerator

Silverado Policy Accelerator is thrilled to announce that Mitchell Semanik has joined our team as Associate Director of Research and Analysis! In this role, Mitch will research policies impacting the transportation sector, critical minerals, and other related industries. Prior to Silverado, Mitch was a senior international economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission specializing in economic, trade, and competitiveness issues within the transportation sector. He led multiple, high-profile trade investigations covering the USMCA and its rules of origin. He also authored several articles and papers covering aerospace and competitiveness topics. Welcome, Mitch! 👏

Last week’s Executive Order on Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production warned: “Our national and economic security are now acutely threatened by our reliance upon hostile foreign powers’ mineral production.” Silverado’s Spring 2025 update to the Strategic Defense Critical Mineral (SDCM) Global Production Dashboard quantifies just how dependent the U.S. remains on foreign-controlled mineral supply chains ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gaJrs9xK Key insights: 🌐 China leads as the top mining and/or refining producer for 11 of the 12 SDCMs. ⚗️ For most of these minerals, China controls over two-thirds of global processing—and in some cases, 90% or more. As the U.S. works to strengthen its domestic mineral supply chains, Silverado is committed to providing up-to-date, transparent data to support informed decisions by policymakers and industry leaders. #CriticalMinerals #NationalSecurity #Defense

Silverado has updated our Trump Administration Executive Order Tracker to include the March 20th Mineral Production EO plus recent actions on artificial intelligence. 🔗 View the EO Tracker on our website ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gtUuNTe7 🔗 View the EO ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ew-3MmZU #TradePolicy #CriticalMinerals #ExecutiveOrders

❓ What’s in the newly released executive order, “Immediate Measures to Increase Critical Minerals Production?  Here’s what’s changing: ⚡ Faster-Tracked Permitting – Cutting red tape to accelerate mining project approvals. 🪨 Expanded Critical Minerals List – Now includes uranium, copper, potash, and gold, with more additions possible. 🌎 Increased Federal Land Use for Mining – Prioritizing federal mineral-rich lands for extraction and production. 🛡️ Defense Production Act (DPA) Expansion – The DoD and DFC now have greater authority to fund and facilitate domestic mineral projects. 💰 Creation of a Dedicated U.S. Mineral Production Fund – Directs Department of Defense and DFC to establish a dedicated mineral fund for domestic investments executed by the DFC. 🏗️ More Government Loans & Incentives – Increased support for mining businesses via SBA, Ex-Im Bank, and other agencies. 📜 Modernizing the Mining Act of 1872 – Streamlining operations and updating waste disposal regulations. See the EO here: https://lnkd.in/ew-3MmZU

🚨 Foundational Chips Alert 🚨 Silverado Policy Accelerator submitted comments and provided testimony to USTR on its Initiation of Section 301 Investigation: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Targeting of the Semiconductor Industry for Dominance: ➡️ Comments https://lnkd.in/g9m3Yr-d ➡️ Written Testimony https://lnkd.in/g3rbT3xD ➡️ Oral Testimony https://lnkd.in/gXeQc_PZ 🔍 Key Takeaways 1. While US and allied measures have been aimed at controlling advanced technology, China has been doubling down on becoming the dominant player for "foundational" chips (also called legacy or mature), which accounted for about three-quarters of global production capacity in 2024. 2. China leads foundational chip production in the 20-180 nm node sizes (excluding memory), and is on track to install three times as much capacity during 2024-2027 than any other country. This is being fueled by the CCP's largely unchecked non -market industrial policies. 3. Ceding the foundational chip market to China means that it has control over whether items are ultimately built – it can hold back its supply from the US and rest of the world. It can depress prices to gain market share from U.S. companies. It can use this leverage to push back on US measures to prevent IP theft and technology transfer of advanced nodes. 4. Section 301 is an important trade tool to counter China’s unfair, unreasonable, and discriminatory practices and allow the U.S. to compete on fair footing. It can be used most effectively by covering not only imports of wafers, but Chinese designed and fabricated semiconductors that are a component in another product, i.e., component tariffs. 5. Designing a component tariff system is viable and can be done working with industry partners. It must also be coupled with measures to promote U.S. manufactured chips. #semiconductors #foundationalchips #chinatrade #tariffs

How Can the U.S. Fight Back Against China’s Unfair Trade Practices? 💪 Silverado Policy Accelerator’s latest comments to USTR reveal how China tilts the playing field in its favor, undermining U.S. industries: 💻 Semiconductors: China is pouring state resources into expanding its chip development and dominating foundational chip fabrication, aiming to become largely self sufficient by 2027. ⛏️ Critical Minerals: China controls the refining and processing of many minerals and is weaponizing this dominance through export bans and controls. 🌍 Environmental Loopholes: China benefits from weak or unenforced environmental regulations, cutting costs at the expense of fair competition. 🚗 Exploiting U.S. Trade Agreements: China seeks to use electric vehicle joint ventures and strategic investments to bypass tariffs and gain unfair market advantages in the U.S. market - an approach used for other products. Combatting non-reciprocal or non-market practices requires a two-pronged strategy: strategically imposing U.S. import measures like tariffs on key products/sectors while simultaneously pursuing U.S. export market openings and the reduction in non-tariff barriers. Read the entire submission below ⬇️ #tradepolicy #China

Join SAFE from March 31st – April 2nd as it brings together leaders from across the political spectrum, top U.S. companies, and high-ranking military officials for urgent discussions, valuable networking, and strategic planning for the future of American energy, military, and industrial dominance. #SAFESummit2025 #EnergySecurity #EnergyDominance

Silverado has updated our EO tracker to include all trade and energy related issues released since Inauguration Day. 🔗 View the tracker on our website ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gtUuNTe7 #TradePolicy #CriticalMinerals #ExecutiveOrders

Silverado Policy Accelerator has updated our Executive Order tracker - now with recent copper, lumber 232 investigations and amendments to previous orders on tariffs. Check it out!

Silverado has updated our EO Tracker to add recently announced Section 232 investigations into copper and lumber, plus all amendments to previously issued orders regarding tariffs applied to Canada, Mexico and China ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gtUuNTe7 #TradePolicy #CriticalMinerals #ExecutiveOrders