Trump’s New $12 Billion Plan to Shield U.S. from China Mineral Dominance – RedState
Rare earth minerals have been the subject of much discussion lately. They are essential in almost everything that makes our comfortable, technological lifestyle possible – and we get too many of them from China and Russia. The Trump administration has taken steps to exploit our domestic resources, not the least of which are here in Alaska, and has also shifted the United States toward places like Greenland.
Today the Trump administration announced something called Project Vault, which will be a national stockpile of critical minerals, a sort of strategic oil reserve, but for minerals.
President Donald Trump is set to launch a strategic stockpile of critical minerals with $12 billion in seed capital, aiming to protect manufacturers from supply shocks as the United States works to reduce its reliance on rare earths and other Chinese metals.
The company — called Project Vault — is expected to combine $1.67 billion in private capital with a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank to buy and store the minerals for automakers, technology companies and other manufacturers.
It seems that the main justification for a project like this would be national security, not necessarily private enterprise. The two can, however, overlap, sometimes to a large extent, as in the case of jet engines.
This effort is similar to the country’s existing emergency oil stock. But instead of crude oil, it would focus on minerals – like gallium and cobalt – used in products such as iPhones, batteries and jet engines. The stockpile is expected to include both rare earths and critical minerals, as well as other strategically important elements subject to price volatility.
This isn’t the worst idea to ever come out of the White House.
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Based on these initial reports, Project Vault is an undertaking that will involve not only Washington but also the very companies that would be most affected by a shortage of critical minerals. And that’s quite a list; here are the companies that have already signed:
The project has so far involved more than a dozen companies, including General Motors Co., Stellantis NV, Boeing Co., Corning Inc., GE Vernova Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Three commodity trading firms – Hartree Partners LP, Traxys North America LLC and Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. – are committed to managing purchases of raw materials to fill stock.
Ex-Im’s board of directors is expected to vote later Monday to authorize the record 15-year loan, which is more than double the bank’s second-largest transaction ever.
I would prefer that all of this be focused on national security issues; there may come a day when missile seekers or semi-autonomous drones will be far more essential to national survival than smartphones and laptops. But involving the technology sector in this issue, with the guarantee of a supply of essential minerals if the usual sources (China) are cut off, could be a way to achieve this without American taxpayers footing the entire bill.
Rare earth elements and other strategic minerals are vitally important to our way of life, to our health (many medical devices and machines require these minerals in their manufacture), and to our national security. Having enough stock is probably a smart decision.
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