FILE PHOTO: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross testifies before a Senate Finance hearing on "Current and Proposed Tariff Actions Administered by the Department of Commerce" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 20, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday initiated a so-called Section 232 investigation into the national security implications of uranium imports.

"Our production of uranium necessary for military and electric power has dropped from 49 percent of our consumption to five percent," U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

"The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security will conduct a thorough, fair, and transparent review to determine whether uranium imports threaten to impair national security," he said.

The investigation will canvass the entire uranium sector from the mining industry through enrichment, defense, and industrial consumption, according to the department.

The move follows a petition filed by two U.S. uranium mining companies in January, which claimed that U.S. uranium production fell to near historic lows in 2017 due in large part to uranium and nuclear fuel imported from "state-subsidized foreign entities."

In 2016, over 80 percent of the uranium used in U.S. nuclear power plants came from Canada, Kazakhstan, Australia and Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The Trump administration has used the Section 232 to unilaterally impose high tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as well as launching an investigation into automobile imports, drawing strong opposition from the domestic business community and U.S. trading partners.

Alarmed by the Trump administration's trade policy, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and several other senators last month introduced legislation that would compel the president to get congressional approval before imposing tariffs on the grounds of national security.

"If the administration continues forward with its misguided and reckless reliance on tariffs, I will work to advance trade legislation to curtail presidential trade authority," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said on Tuesday.