Seeking to blunt China’s dominance over critical minerals that underpin hi-tech manufacturing, the administration of US President Donald Trump is rolling out a slate of measures this week aimed at reducing US reliance on Beijing.
A White House official has confirmed to the South China Morning Post that Trump will be launching a US$12 billion public-private initiative to build a large commercial stockpile of critical minerals titled “Project Vault”.
The project is being billed as a strategic reserve designed to shield US manufacturers from supply disruptions and price volatility in materials essential for electric vehicles, semiconductors, jet engines and consumer electronics.
The initiative is anchored by a US$10 billion, 15-year loan from the US Export-Import Bank, the largest in the agency’s history, alongside US$1.67 billion in private capital from participating companies, the official confirmed.
The firms include General Motors, Stellantis, Boeing, Corning, GE Vernova and Alphabet’s Google.
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Project Vault is intended to act as a shock absorber, preventing production lines from grinding to a halt. Up until now, the US approach to stockpiling minerals has been strictly military-first. This is the first commercial-scale strategic reserve.