The Trump administration in the United States will inject $12 billion (about 17.469 trillion won) to build a strategic stockpile of critical minerals.
President Donald Trump on the 2nd (local time) officially announced the Project Vault plan at the White House to stockpile critical minerals.
Trump said, "For years, U.S. corporations have faced the risk of critical minerals running out if market disruptions occur," and "Today we are launching 'Project Vault' so that U.S. corporations and workers do not suffer from any shortage."
He added, "Although it was resolved, we do not want to go through what happened a year ago again." The move is seen as an effort to prevent a repeat of last year's case in which China, amid U.S.-China trade tensions, used export controls on critical minerals such as rare earths to pressure the United States.
Rare earths are key materials needed in advanced technology fields and the defense industry, and China controls about 70% of global production and more than 80% of refining and processing.
Project Vault will be initially funded by a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and about $2 billion in private capital. Trump explained that U.S. taxpayer would benefit from the interest on the loans used for Project Vault.
According to Bloomberg News, about a dozen corporations, including General Motors (GM), Boeing, Stellantis and Corning, will take part in the project. Mary Barra, GM chief executive officer (CEO), and global mining investor Robert Friedland joined the White House announcement that day.
Trump explained that day, "Just as we have long stockpiled strategic petroleum and critical minerals for national defense, we will now secure stockpiles for U.S. industry so that no problems arise."
He went on to say, "Over the past year, my administration has taken special measures to secure all the critical minerals and rare earths the United States needs." The Trump administration has worked to diversify supply lines, reaching agreements one after another with countries rich in critical minerals, such as Australia, to "strengthen cooperation on critical minerals."