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President Donald Trump’s administration announced plans to begin stockpiling critical minerals on Monday, starting off the program with $12 billion in seed money, Fox News has learned.
The new program, first reported by Bloomberg, seeks to insulate U.S. manufacturers from supply shortages as America seeks to lessen its reliance on Chinese materials.
A White House official confirmed to Fox News that the program has been dubbed “Project Vault,” and will kick off with funding of $1.67 billion in private cash as well as a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Trump is scheduled to meet on Monday with General Motors CEO Mary Barra and mining billionaire Robert Friedland at the White House.
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China currently controls between 60-70% of rare earth mining. Rare earths are the foundation materials for much of modern technology and defense systems. Without these elements, production of EVs, iPhones, F-35 fighter jets, and even MRI machines would stall.
The Trump administration has already sought to diversify by making rare earth agreements with Australia, Japan and countries in Southeast Asia. He has also urged European allies to do the same.
Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed an $8.5 billion deal on the topic in October.
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The Chinese government restricted the exports of its rare earth materials last year during trade disputes with the Trump administration.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also announced a new rare earth mineral processing center in South Carolina late last year. Similar projects are ongoing in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S.
“This is the first magnet made in the U.S. in 25 years — we’re ending China’s chokehold on our supply chain,” Bessent said at the time.
“They started it 18 months ago. The state of South Carolina — Governor McMaster was fantastic,” Bessent said. “They said it took them eight weeks to get permits. They couldn’t believe how fast it was. And this is President Trump’s all-hands-on-deck for this national security emergency.”
FOX Business’ Elizabeth MacDonald contributed to this report.
