By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) (the "Act"), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Policy and Findings.  Elemental phosphorus is pervasive in defense supply chains and is therefore crucial to military readiness and national defense.  It is a key input in smoke, illumination, and incendiary devices and is a critical component for manufacturing the semiconductors that are central to numerous defense technologies, such as radar, solar cells, sensors, and optoelectronics.  It is also increasingly important in modern lithium-ion battery chemistries used in a multitude of weapon-system supply chains.  For these and other reasons, on November 7, 2025, the Department of the Interior, acting pursuant to the Energy Act of 2020, designated phosphate as a critical mineral.

Elemental phosphorus is also a critical precursor element for the production of glyphosate-based herbicides, which play a critical role in maintaining America's agricultural advantage by enabling farmers to efficiently and cost-effectively produce food and livestock feed.  As the most widely used crop protection tools in United States agriculture, glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation's agricultural productivity and rural economy, allowing United States farmers and ranchers to maintain high yields and low production costs while ensuring that healthy, affordable food options remain within reach for all American families.   

There is no direct one-for-one chemical alternative to glyphosate-based herbicides.  Lack of access to glyphosate-based herbicides would critically jeopardize agricultural productivity, adding pressure to the domestic food system, and may result in a transition of cropland to other uses due to low productivity.  Given the profit margins growers currently face, any major restrictions in access to glyphosate-based herbicides would result in economic losses for growers and make it untenable for them to meet growing food and feed demands.

Ensuring an adequate supply of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides is thus crucial to the national security and defense, including food-supply security, which is essential to protecting the health and safety of Americans.  Nonetheless, the United States' ability to domestically produce those critical inputs is extremely limited.  Indeed, there is only a single domestic producer of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides, and this producer does not meet our annual needs for those inputs.  For that reason, more than 6,000,000 kilograms of elemental phosphorus are imported from other countries annually.  Future reduction or the cessation of domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides would gravely threaten American national security by disrupting, and requiring the further offshoring of, this Nation's defense supply chain including by having a debilitating impact on domestic agricultural capabilities.

I accordingly find that, consistent with the Department of the Interior's designation, elemental phosphorus is a scarce material that is critical to national defense and security.  Our Nation's inadequate elemental phosphorus production, which must sustain both defense manufacturing and our significant agricultural needs, and the threat of increased domestic scarcity leave us vulnerable to hostile foreign actors and pose an imminent threat to military readiness. 

Consistent with these findings, I find that ensuring robust domestic elemental phosphorus mining and United States-based production of glyphosate-based herbicides is central to American economic and national security.  Without immediate Federal action, the United States remains inadequately equipped and vulnerable.  Accordingly, I hereby find, pursuant to section 101 of the Act, that domestic elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides meet the criteria specified in section 101(b) of the Act (50 U.S.C. 4511(b)).