On February 18, President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to designate elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides as essential to national defense. The order delegates authority to the USDA Secretary to set national priorities and allocate resources, grants legal immunity under Section 707 of the DPA to compliant domestic producers, and explicitly requires that any implementing rules must not jeopardize the corporate viability of those producers.

The Defense Production Act is a Cold War-era statute that gives the president broad authority to direct domestic industrial output. The last time it was invoked this aggressively was during the pandemic, to secure production of masks and ventilators. This time, it is being used for a weedkiller.

The order covers both phosphorus and glyphosate. Elemental phosphorus serves a dual role: it is a component in military smoke munitions and semiconductor manufacturing, and it is also the key precursor chemical for glyphosate synthesis. In November 2025, the Department of the Interior had already designated phosphate as a critical mineral under the Energy Act of 2020. The two moves together represent a step-change in the strategic status of phosphorus in U.S. policy.