Starting August 27, nearly every pound of tungsten scrap and shredded lithium-ion battery waste generated in the United States will have to stay in the country. The Commerce Department confirmed it will block exports of tungsten scrap and battery waste, known in the industry as black mass, as part of a broader push to rebuild domestic critical-mineral supply chains and cut reliance on foreign processing.
The order, signed by President Trump, gives federal officials the power to limit overseas shipments of scrap containing valuable critical minerals, according to Reuters. Waivers may still be issued case by case for companies that can demonstrate undue hardship or irreparable harm, but the default rule is a hard stop on exports for a full year. As GreenLi-ion reported, the Bureau of Industry and Security invoked Section 101 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 to issue a Directive Allocation Order under Docket No. 260804-0143, following a presidential determination on July 30.
What Exactly Gets Locked Down
The directive covers tungsten waste and scrap under Schedule B code 8101.97.00.00 along with black mass containing residual lithium-ion battery material, requiring domestic sellers to direct 100 percent of their monthly sales to U.S. buyers for 386 days beginning August 27, per the same GreenLi-ion report. Black mass itself is simply shredded lithium-ion batteries, ground down to recover the metals inside. Automotive Resource Co. reports that the rule specifically targets shredded battery scrap containing residual cell material, while explicitly excluding whole electric vehicles, intact battery packs or modules, pure nickel-metal-hydride scrap, and fully refined chemicals like lithium carbonate.
The shipments in question were headed to China and other countries, and the timing is no accident. China dominates the global processing of critical minerals, and the Trump administration has leaned on export controls, tariffs, and domestic incentives to try to rebuild the U.S. critical-minerals supply chain, according to Reuters. Tungsten in particular is prized for hardening steel and supporting defense applications, and the U.S. currently has zero active tungsten mines. Miningmx reports that tungsten prices surged sharply through 2026, driven by global rearmament, ongoing conflicts involving Ukraine and Iran, and Chinese export curbs.
A Domestic Recycling Industry Caught In The Middle
The U.S. recycling industry has said keeping electronic waste and other scrap in the country could improve domestic minerals production, and the case for that argument is stark: the Basel Action Network's data shows the United States exports nearly 33,000 metric tons of electronic waste and other scrap per month, material that could otherwise feed American refiners. Amermin, a privately held tungsten recycling firm, praised the export ban. But the company's experience also shows how uneven the domestic buildout has been so far — Amermin was awarded an $11.5 million Energy Department grant in 2025 but told Reuters it has not yet received those funds in 2026.
Ryan McAdams, speaking for Amermin, said the company's commercial recycling facility would have opened at least six months earlier had the grant funds been available, and he said the export ban will buy time but that more domestic recycling infrastructure must still be built. That warning echoes a broader industry concern: the Recycled Materials Association told EUWID Recycling and Waste Management that the 100 percent domestic allocation order overlooks critical industry dynamics because U.S. processing facilities currently lack the capacity to handle all the scrap generated domestically. Reuters likewise notes the United States has insufficient capacity to recycle all the scrap it produces.
Battery Recyclers Have Already Been Bruised
The order lands at a fragile moment for battery recycling specifically. Li-Cycle filed for bankruptcy in 2025, and Ascend Elements faced its own economic challenges over the past 18 months before also filing for bankruptcy, per Reuters. Zubeyde Oysul, who works for the Washington-based think tank SAFE, said recycling recoverable critical materials from scrap is important — a view that underscores why officials are betting on export restrictions even as the processing sector struggles financially.
Not everyone in the industry sees the mandate the same way. Refiner Electra Battery Materials welcomed the restrictions, telling the Canadian Mining Journal that aggressive bidding by offshore refiners had previously starved emerging North American refiners of the feedstock needed to secure commercial financing for new facilities. That is effectively the opposite complaint from scrap aggregators, who need buyers now rather than feedstock guarantees for future plants.
Part Of A Bigger Pattern
The scrap export block does not stand alone. Hoodline previously reported that Trump signed a related executive order in July tightening military supply chain rules for defense metals like tungsten, setting a January 1, 2027 deadline to eliminate routine foreign waivers while exempting Project Vault, a $12 billion strategic mineral reserve backed by the Export-Import Bank. And the stakes around illicit tungsten shipments are not hypothetical — Hancock County, Indiana law enforcement intercepted a semi-truck on Interstate 70 in June carrying nearly 40,000 pounds of tungsten oxide valued at $2.86 million, arresting the driver.
The U.S. is not moving alone. Miningmx reports the European Union plans to introduce similar restrictions on black mass exports starting in late 2026, a parallel move by a Western economy to keep raw recycled battery materials inside its own supply chains. The push reflects a deeper vulnerability: Mining.com reported in February that U.S. Geological Survey data found the United States was 100 percent import-dependent for 16 non-fuel mineral commodities in 2025, and relied on foreign imports for more than half its consumption of 54 minerals overall. For now, the one-year clock on tungsten and battery scrap exports starts running August 27, with the industry watching to see whether new domestic processing capacity can catch up before it runs out.
