Trump Launches Multibillion-Dollar Initiative to End China Mineral Dependence
President Donald Trump is leading a governmentwide effort to establish a critical-minerals supply chain independent of China following Chinese export controls on rare-earth elements.
The Trump administration is executing a multibillion-dollar, governmentwide initiative to establish a critical-minerals supply chain independent of China. The effort accelerated after April 2025, when China imposed export controls on key rare-earth elements, prompting President Donald Trump to declare the lack of domestic supply a national emergency.
Coordinated by the White House National Security Council, the strategy involves the departments of Defense, Energy, State, Commerce, and Interior. The United States has completed over 180 projects and signed more than two dozen bilateral agreements with partners including Australia, Japan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The State Department also launched the Pax Silica initiative to coordinate production with allies such as Greece and Israel.
Under the new mandate, U.S. defense contractors must eliminate certain metals from adversary nations from their supply chains by next year, though some contractors claim this timeline is not feasible. While the U.S. pushes for independence, China has agreed to a temporary truce to continue providing minerals to the United States until January.
