March 4, 2026 - U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke are touting tariffs as the solution to bringing back Montana mining.

Burgum and Zinke discussed where Montana fits in the global mineral trade after touring the Lance College of Mines and Engineering at Montana Tech University in Butte on Friday. The tour occurred four days before Zinke’s surprise announcement that he is not running for re-election in midterms in November, instead retiring at the end of 2026.

Sen. Steve Daines traveled to the depths of the Stillwater platinum and palladium mine while Burgum and Zinke toured Montana Tech.


Sibanye Stillwater, the mine’s South African parent company, laid off 700 of its Montana workers in the fall of 2024. The mine’s bottom line took a hit after Russian producers sold palladium in the U.S. below market value during the country’s invasion of Ukraine, crashing the mineral market.

From left, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, right, Congressman and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke think tariffs can make Montana mining great again.

The Department of Commerce responded imposing a 132.83% antidumping duty on Russian palladium imports in February.

“Now it makes palladium mining (more) profitable,” Zinke said, referring to the tariff.

Despite the improving palladium market, Sibanye-Stillwater confirmed no rehires are planned in 2026.

“We can’t afford to take a misstep here,” said Heather McDowell, Sibanye-Stillwater’s senior vice president and general counsel for legal and external affairs, in response to optimistic statements from Montana’s congressional delegation. “When we hire people back we need to give them some certainty.”

McDowell previously confirmed no Russian palladium entered the U.S. market after July, 2025.

Tariff troubleA Supreme Court ruling Feb. 20 invalidating tariffs solely imposed by President Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act could affect Trump’s ability to directly levy additional tariffs on Russian palladium, and countries such as Canada, Mexico, and China. The ruling states Trump invoking the IEEPA without congressional authorization is unconstitutional.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order utilizing the IEEPA to prohibit specific imports, exports and new investments due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in March 2022. The action blocked U.S. investment in Russia, importing Russian oil, natural gas and coal.

“I disagree with the ruling,” Zinke said. “I think the president can institute a tariff.”

Zinke admitted whether the president can directly allocate money from tariffs likely poses similar executive authority issues.

Still, the Supreme Court ruling won’t negatively affect Stillwater, per Zinke and Burgum.

“There are multiple areas that provide presidential executive authority for establishing things that would have the effect of a tariff,” Burgum said. “The tariffs are the leverage that lead to a deal. If ‘you’ say ‘I don’t want to pay a tariff’, the answer is build a manufacturing plant in the U.S. Blaming affordability on a tariff is saying ‘I want to keep buying stuff made in foreign countries’.”

Other similar executive options including instituting a free trade “club of nations” remain on the table, according to Burgum.

“We passed it off to countries that have no Environmental Protection Agency, no child labor laws, no reclamation rules,” Burgum said. “We’ve made so much progress rebalancing trade. We’re going to maintain these agreements.”

Burgum also serves as chairman of the National Energy Dominance Council as secretary of the interior. Established by Trump in February 2025, the council accelerates oil, gas and mining projects to lower energy costs, enhance grid reliability, and support artificial intelligence development.

“I want to have (U.S.) mining,” Burgum added. “You can’t be waiting for Congress.”

“This is a healthy discussion among branches of government,” Zinke said. “Errant judicial lower court judges stopped the Keystone pipeline, they stopped the (grizzly) bear from being delisted (from the Endangered Species Act). I wish Congress was a little more proactive about things, but maybe that’s the way our founding fathers decided to make it.”

Zinke and Burgum said the Trump Administration is exploring stockpiling domestically harvested critical minerals, such as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a taxpayer-funded supply to strategically avoid international pricing fluctuations.

In 2025, the Trump Administration pursued a strategy linking the end of the Russia-Ukraine war to securing access to critical minerals, particularly in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. Proposals included utilizing Ukraine’s lithium, titanium, and rare earth deposits as part of ‘payback’ for U.S. aid, while also exploring joint mining ventures with Russia in the Arctic and potentially easing sanctions on Russian resources.

Russia is the dominant global producer of palladium, accounting for 30-40% of the world’s supply.

Zinke said he believes believes as Montana mining enters a crossroads, a mineral deal with Russia could be made by the time its war with Ukraine ends.

“I think the deal in Russia will be made, but I think we’re smart enough to realize rare earths are critical minerals; we need our own ability and not be vulnerable either to our allies or potential adversaries,” he said. “Small pilot programs on a lot of these (new) technologies, that’s encouraging. In Montana’s west we have a lot of tailings. There’s likely critical minerals, rare earths that can be reprocessed at a fraction of the cost.

“We are the treasure state and in that area we can make significant improvement and be part of the solution, rather than letting the solution be formulated (by others).”