The U.S. State Department has drawn up a Myanmar strategy aimed at expanding trade with Myanmar and securing access to rare earths. Myanmar's military junta has also begun lobbying for the United States to quickly increase investment in the country's rare earths.
According to Reuters and others on the 10th, the State Department said in a recently released strategy paper that the United States would become Myanmar's "key trade partner and supplier" and set a goal of tripling imports of U.S. goods, including agricultural products, by 2030.
The goals also include securing access to abundant rare earth resources and shutting down online scam compounds. The plan sets a concrete target to help U.S. companies sign at least three major commercial and investment deals worth $5 million (about 6.69 billion won) or more each. However, the document does not specify whether sanctions that block investment would be lifted.
DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm contracted by the Myanmar junta's information ministry, said in a newsletter on the 9th that these goals are "modest given the United States' ambitions to compete with China over Myanmar's mineral resources." Last year, Myanmar signed a lobbying and public relations deal with DCI Group worth $3 million a year (about 4.02 billion won) to work on restoring ties with the Trump administration.
Myanmar is a major global source of heavy rare earths, most of which are exported to China and used as feedstock for magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines. Kachin State in the north, a main producing area, is controlled by the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a rebel group in a civil war with the military. DCI Group noted, "China has already spent years consolidating its foothold in Myanmar's resources sector, and Chinese companies and intermediaries hold an advantage that is not easily replaced."
DCI Group stressed, "Ultimately, the United States should treat Myanmar not as a mere diplomatic quandary but as a priority country for critical minerals."
