The parallel congressional and executive-branch efforts reflect a new urgency to build a domestic supply chain for minerals essential to cellphones, electric vehicles, jet fighters, and missiles — a vulnerability that Beijing demonstrated last year when it restricted mineral exports in retaliation for U.S. tariffs, ultimately forcing a negotiated truce.
A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators on Thursday introduced legislation to create an independent agency funded with $2.5 billion to stockpile rare earth elements and other critical minerals, stabilize prices, and encourage domestic and allied production, as the Trump administration separately deploys billions of dollars in equity stakes and partnerships to reduce the country’s dependence on China.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., sponsored the Senate bill. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., introduced the House companion legislation. The proposed agency would operate independently, charged with building reserves, supporting price stability, and spurring production from both domestic suppliers and allied nations — for the military’s supply needs as well as the broader civilian economy.
Shaheen called the legislation “a historic investment” to make the U.S. economy more resilient against what she said was China’s dominance that has left the United States vulnerable to economic coercion. Young said creating the new reserve was “a much-needed, aggressive step to protect our national and economic security.”
Pentagon moves ahead of Congress
While Congress debates the legislation, the executive branch has already committed substantial resources. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday, in a speech at SpaceX, that the Pentagon had “deployed over $4.5 billion in capital commitments” in the past five months alone to close six critical minerals deals that would “help free the United States from market manipulation.”
Those deals include a $150 million preferred-equity stake in Atlantic Alumina Co. to preserve the country’s last alumina refinery and build its first large-scale gallium production facility in Louisiana. The Pentagon also announced a $400 million preferred-stock investment in MP Materials, which operates the only active rare-earths mine in the United States at Mountain Pass, California, and entered a $1.4 billion joint partnership with ReElement Technologies Corp. to build a domestic supply chain for rare earth magnets.
On Wednesday, President Trump signed a proclamation declaring the United States “too reliant” on foreign-sourced critical minerals and directing his administration to negotiate better arrangements, with possible remedies including minimum import prices for certain materials.
“Reshoring manufacturing that’s critical to our national and economic security is a top priority for the Trump administration,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Trade backdrop
The legislative and executive urgency reflects vulnerabilities exposed in last year’s trade standoff. When Trump imposed widespread tariffs last spring, Beijing responded not only with retaliatory tariffs but with severe restrictions on critical mineral exports, forcing a negotiated pause. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a one-year truce when they met in South Korea in October, under which Beijing would continue to export critical minerals while Washington would ease export controls on American technology bound for China.
China processes more than 90 percent of the world’s critical minerals, according to the Associated Press, including materials essential to cellphones, electric vehicles, jet fighters, and missiles. Analysts and industry executives say that concentration has given Beijing a chokehold it has proven willing to use.
State capitalism question
The U.S. government’s willingness to take equity stakes in private companies has prompted some analysts to note the departure from traditional Republican market-oriented approaches. Elly Rostoum, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis, wrote that “despite the dangers of political interference, the strategic logic is compelling” and suggested the model could be “a prudent way for the U.S. to ensure strategic autonomy and industrial sovereignty.”
Industry representatives have welcomed the intervention. Jim Sims, chief communications officer of NioCorp — which is seeking financing to build a mine in southeastern Nebraska — said the administration was taking an approach no predecessor had matched.
“He is playing three-dimensional chess on critical minerals like no previous president has done. It’s about time too, given the military and strategic vulnerability we face by having to import so many of these fundamental building blocks of technology and national defense,” Sims said.
The bill introduced Thursday would favor a more market-based approach than the Pentagon’s direct equity investments by setting up the independent body to encourage both domestic and allied production. It was unclear how the legislation might align with the White House’s existing strategy if passed.
Allied coordination
Beyond domestic production, the Trump administration has pursued critical mineral agreements with allies. Trump signed an $8.5 billion mining investment agreement with Australia in October. The administration is also aggressively seeking U.S. control of Greenland in part because of rare earth deposits there, though experts have said any extraction would take years to materialize.
On Monday, finance ministers from the G7 nations met in Washington to discuss their shared vulnerability to critical-mineral supply-chain disruptions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged attendees to increase supply-chain resiliency and thanked them for their willingness to work together “toward decisive action and lasting solutions,” according to a Treasury statement.