Doug Burgum, former North Dakota Governor, has been confirmed as Secretary of the Interior with a bipartisan Senate vote of 79 to 18 — and is reportedly set to lead Trump’s National Energy Council and will have a seat on the National Security Council (NSC).
Burgum’s appointment, especially to the NSC, reflects the importance of energy and critical minerals to the Trump administration, with a focus on an AI arms race — in particular, the move comes as the US seeks “energy dominance” to compete with China.
“Without baseload, we’re going to lose the AI arms race to China,” Burgum told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “And if we lose the AI arms race to China, then that’s got direct impacts on our national security.”
Burgum’s role on the NSC will allow him to weigh in on a range of national security issues, not just those related to his department. And, as Secretary of Interior, Burgum will have authority over 500 million acres of federal land, which Republicans aim to use to boost domestic production of critical minerals and energy.
The Interior Department’s focus on critical minerals and mining comes as China has recently banned exports of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the US.
For example, antimony prices in the US have already soared more than 300% in 2024. The Biden administration recently issued the final permit for Perpetua Resources’ Stibnite Antimony-Gold project in Idaho, which is expected to meet a third of US antimony needs by 2028.
“We need to have a security network of people who are truly our allies, and we have to be able to buy and sell from each other around these critical minerals. We were, as a nation twenty years ago, one of the great mining economies in the world. It’s now become a dirty word and you can hardly find a kid in college who wants to go into geology… and we’ve got to bring it back because this is critical to our nation’s future”
— US Secretary of the Interior, Governor Doug Burgum, at Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing about critical mineral imports and tariffs
Burgum’s appointment is part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to prioritise domestic mining and processing, and secure critical mineral supplies. He has been asked to head a new “National Energy Dominance Council” to further these goals.