The Trump administration has moved to lock down supply by launching a $12-billion strategic stockpile of critical minerals, a direct bid to cut U.S. reliance on China for materials that sit at the heart of defense systems, power grids, and advanced manufacturing, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Rather than leaning on tariffs, permitting tweaks, or future supply promises, Washington is choosing to buy and hold the minerals outright.
The stockpile will focus on rare earth elements alongside lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite. These materials feed weapons systems, satellites, batteries, data centers, and industrial motors. China dominates processing for many of them, even when mining happens elsewhere. That grip has given Beijing leverage the U.S. has found difficult to offset, particularly when supply chains come under strain during periods of geopolitical or economic stress.
Until now, U.S. strategy centered on encouraging production through tax credits, loans, and regulatory reform. A new federal agency created last year, backed by $2.5 billion, aims to finance domestic mining and processing projects that private capital has avoided due to long timelines and political risk. Those efforts target future supply. The stockpile targets control today.
China has already shown that access to critical materials can be tightened quickly through policy. Export controls on gallium and germanium were imposed in 2023, followed by licensing requirements on graphite exports in late 2024, injecting uncertainty into supply chains even where shipments continued. Since then, Beijing has eased some rare earth export rules as part of a broader U.S.–China trade truce, accelerating license approvals and reducing administrative friction. The underlying control framework, however, remains in place, leaving Beijing with the ability to slow or restrict flows again if tensions re-escalate.
While the Trump administration plans to accumulate material in stages to limit market disruption and avoid displacing private buyers, officials have not disclosed specific volume targets or release conditions. The objective is to maintain access while domestic projects move through development and allied producers expand capacity in jurisdictions such as Australia, Canada, and parts of Africa.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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