President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China have raised questions about the issue of rare earth minerals and their processing, but Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday that part of the dilemma lies in the “war on mining” that was waged under the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

“If you go back to the Obama/Biden administrations, we are in a war on mining in this country for anything, not just rare earth minerals,” Burgum told “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s not just ‘drill, baby, drill,’ but it’s ‘map, baby, map.’ We’ve got these materials in our country, so [it’s also] ‘mine, baby, mine.'”

He noted that Trump will be announcing a resolution on copper mining soon. “This has been a 30-year saga in terms of getting permitting,” said Burgum. “In three months, President Trump has got this rolling again. Copper is key for electronics. It’s key for military uses.”

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