The critical minerals, are referred to those strategic non-fuel minerals that are critical to the national economy and defense security but under high supply risks. The U.S. has focused on its supply security since 1930s. This paper reviews the research progress of the critical minerals and the related policies in the U.S., with several key findings:(1) the focus behind the U.S. mineral criticality policy has shifted from the supply security-oriented to the national competitive strategy-oriented system; (2) the methodology of the criticality assessment is shifted from the static assessment of the mineral-based risks to the dynamic assessment of the manufacturing-based supply risks; (3) the orientation of the supply chain management policy is shifted from the deglobalization of the supply chains to the de-coupling from China; (4) the object of the criticality assessment is shifted from the minerals to the emerging technologies related to the containment of China's development. The evolution of the U.S. strategy for the critical minerals is influenced by its excessive expansion of the national security agendas, the resource demand of the manufacturing reshoring, the return of Cold War Mentality and the intention of maintaining the advantage in the overall national strength. Therefore, China should develop unique criticality assessment frameworks according to the China's reality, strengthen the industry-university-research cooperation in the emerging technologies and the international cooperation in the critical minerals supply chains.

critical mineral  /  supply security  /  critical assessment  /  bottleneck