U.S. President Donald Trump has launched separate national-security investigations into foreign sources of critical minerals, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors—preparing the ground for sector-specific duties on those goods. (The Logic)

Talking point: Tuesday’s executive order directed U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to assess how reliance on foreign sources of the processed versions of critical minerals has made its supply chains vulnerable. China, a top producer of 30 of the 50 commodities on the U.S. critical minerals list, has curbed exports of rare earth minerals as part of the trade war. The U.S. will also explore how to boost domestic production, processing and recycling. Examining the feasibility of shifting production to the U.S. is also among the goals of separate investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. All three reviews are under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act—the same law used to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum.