WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Trump administration is expected to reveal its plan to build a U.S. strategic reserve of critical minerals on Wednesday, which are essential for technologies like smartphones, electric vehicles, jet engines, renewable energy systems, and defense hardware.
The $12 billion program, called “Project Vault,” is expected to reduce dependence on China and protect U.S. industry from supply disruptions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial and welcome delegations from over 50 nations “to advance collective efforts to strengthen and diversify critical minerals supply chains,” a news release read.
“Critical minerals are vital to technological innovation, economic strength, and national security,” the department wrote on X. “Under President Trump, we are taking decisive steps to identify and develop domestic reserves for critical minerals, to benefit all Americans.”
Rubio said he met on Tuesday with foreign ministers from South Korea and India to discuss “the importance of diversifying and securing critical mineral supply chains to bolster our economic and national security.”
The Trump administration is making such bold moves after China, which controls 70% of the world’s rare earths mining and 90% of the processing, choked off the flow of the elements in response to Trump’s tariff war. The two superpowers are in a one-year truce after Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in October and agreed to pull back on high tariffs and stepped up rare earth restrictions.
The government last week also made its fourth direct investment in an American critical minerals producer when it extended $1.6 billion to USA Rare Earth in exchange for stock and a repayment agreement.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers last month proposed creating a new agency with $2.5 billion to spur production of rare earths and other critical minerals. The lawmakers applauded the steps by the Trump administration.
“It’s a clear sign that there is bipartisan support for securing a robust domestic supply of critical minerals that both reduces our reliance on China and stabilizes the market,” Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Todd Young, R-Ind., said in a joint statement Tuesday.
_____
Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
National Headline
