April 9, 2026 -

The disruption of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is impacting far more than just oil and natural gas.

Since the conflict began on February 28, prices for several critical minerals have risen by more than 125%; including dysprosium, hafnium, rhenium and terbium—all minerals vital to the U.S. economy and national security.

Rising mineral prices come as President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks. U.S. access to rare earths and other essential minerals will be a central focus of those discussions.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at an event in Washington this week said the U.S. is “not looking for a massive confrontation” with Beijing but wants to ensure continued access to Chinese minerals, calling the economic and trade relationship between the two countries “stable.”

And the U.S. Energy Information Administration has released its Annual Energy Outlook 2026 which explores a range of U.S. energy scenarios through 2050. The EIA found that U.S. energy consumption is likely to remain relatively flat or decrease slightly through 2050 in most cases despite economic growth.

However, electricity consumption is expected to grow with data center demand emerging as the dominant driver of long-term demand growth.

The EIA says that to meet growing electricity demand, installed electric generating capacity will need to increase between 50 and 90% by 2050 across its models. Shaping that deployment will be natural gas prices and renewable technology costs.