OMAHA, Nevada (AP) – US production of critical components in electric vehicles, smartphones and fighter jets is set to expand rapidly over the next few years as the Trump administration strengthens its accumulation efforts Important Mineral Industry In the US, we work to break China’s chokehold About the global supply chain.
The federal government has put hundreds of millions of dollars into American companies, and has agreed with one company to set the lowest prices for some of the important minerals produced in the US and begin researching foreign-made supplies.
“This is a moment in the rare earth Manhattan project,” said Joshua Ballard, CEO of USA Rare Earth.
The White House has made it a priority to revive the country’s key mineral industry. I used almost exclusively To force the US to the negotiation table for products Trade wars.
President Donald Trump This week, China said it had “got intellectually and took the monopoly of the world’s magnets,” but he expressed confidence in securing supplies as the US has “a much bigger and better card.”
“We have a lot of magnets in a fairly short period of time. In fact, we don’t know what to do with it,” he said. Hosted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Important minerals are linked to national security
Industry insiders, analysts and lawmakers have been warning for years America’s dependence on China on important minerals – A list of 50 minerals containing 17 sought rare earth elements is national fragility.
The hard-to-pronounce elements are needed not only for missiles, submarines and fighter jets, but also for smartphones, wind turbines and robots.
“Our national and economic security is now seriously threatened by its reliance on the mineral production of hostile foreign powers,” an executive order from Trump declared in March.
It wasn’t until Beijing was unfolded. Some rare earth restrictions In April – leads to a temporary suspension Ford electric vehicle production – “A problem that appeared to have been a hit near the house for over a decade,” said Greselin Baskaran, director of the Critical Mineral Security Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic International Studies.
Trump said he could charge 200% on Monday. Chinese products tariffs If Beijing does not export magnets to the US, but pointed out that “it’s probably behind us.” Instead, he said he could withhold the parts of the plane.
When asked about leverage, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday that Beijing “follows the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation.”
“We hope that the US will work with us to jointly promote stable, sound and sustainable development of bilateral relations,” Guo said.
The key mineral industry welcomes support
It’s a pentagon Investment of $400 million Rare Earth Producer MP Materials. It gave to a US company $150 million loan This month we have committed to guaranteeing that all magnets made at that large new factory will be purchased and the lowest prices for neodymium and praseodymium products will be set for a decade.
“We’re going to ultimately address that issue and do something to make these projects a reality,” he said. Raise $1.2 billion Produces niobium, titanium, scandium and rare earths In Nebraska.
For over 40 years, Smith said he has seen how the US has broken the industry into China. This has led to dominating supply chains by brushing environmental concerns aside, investing in mines around the world, developing advanced processing technologies, and setting low prices to squeeze competition.
Previous efforts for US companies to discover viable businesses have been wasted when China flooded the market with low-priced products and drove potential investors.
Niocorp recently secured up to $10 million from the Pentagon. This helped pay for exploratory drilling this summer.
It is unclear whether the government will expand its lowest-price deals to other US companies, but Smith said current support is “unbelievable” compared to the past. The price range “just take away the Chinese tricks they’ve had forever,” he said.
Located in Fort Worth, Texas, approximately 220 miles from where MP Materials is building its magnet plant, Noveon Magnetics operates the only US factory that currently produces rare earth magnets. Located south of Austin, it increases production to produce 2,000 tonnes of magnets a year.
“We certainly hope that it may not actually be the last effort by the US government,” says Scott Dunn, CEO of Noveon Magnetics, about the Pentagon MP Material Partnership.
Even with all the new productions that are aiming to go online in the coming years, American companies will not be able to meet North American demand for around 35,000 tonnes of magnets per year, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimates analysts estimate. And demand could double over the next decade.
Ballard, where the US rare earth will begin manufacturing about 600 tonnes of magnets in Oklahoma next year, said the government could provide an incentive to stop American buyers from returning to cheap Chinese products once American buyers become widely available again.
The US government is increasing investment
this year Large tax and expenditure reduction invoices The Pentagon includes $2 billion to boost US stockpiling of key minerals and another $5 billion by 2029 to invest in these supply chains.
Between 2020 and 2024, the Pentagon said it had awarded more than $439 million to establish a rare earth supply chain in the country.
Domestic investment aside, Trump has sought to ensure access to key non-US minerals, including those in the US. Greenland and Ukraine. a Peace Agreement The administration has helped intermediaries between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda provide access to important minerals, but it is too early to determine whether those efforts will be successful.
Some say they still need to do business with Beijing
Derek Scissors, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he was concerned that if China agreed to guarantee rare earth supplies for trade talks, Trump could consider it a success.
“I don’t think there’s such a deal, or if there is, it will last,” Husthers said. “But that poses a threat to the economic independence of the United States.”
David Abraham, a rare metals expert who wrote the book “The Elements of Power,” said New Us Mines have been away for years.
“I agree that everyone has to manipulate trades with Chinese people because American companies need more rare earth and special magnets than they can produce domestically,” he said.
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Tan was reported from Washington.
