The Issue...

Throughout the twentieth century, the United States deployed bold and creative industrial policies to secure critical minerals during crises. Today, it has fully revived that playbook—using equity stakes, price floors, foreign sourcing agreements, public procurement, and strategic stockpiling to develop mineral markets and bolster security actively. This renewed intervention is particularly significant because, for many key commodities, mining and processing capacity outside China remains underdeveloped and requires sustained, deliberate support to scale and become commercially viable....

On February 4, during the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial at the Department of State, 55 foreign delegations from allied and partner nations convened to deepen cooperation on critical minerals security. The week featured several major announcements, including Project Vault—a domestic stockpile backed by the largest loan in the history of the Export-Import Bank of the United States—the launch of the new multilateral Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement (FORGE), and the signing of 13 new bilateral critical minerals frameworks and memoranda of understanding. Discussions also focused on price floors and the potential creation of a preferential trading bloc. Together, these developments suggest the Trump administration is complementing its bilateral engagements with a more plurilateral strategy, recognizing that meaningful market influence requires collective scale among major consuming and producing countries....

Last week, the U.S. Department of State hosted the largest ministerial in over four years, gathering foreign ministers from 55 countries for the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial. In the days leading up to the gathering, the Trump administration announced the launch of a U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve, also known as Project Vault. This public-private partnership, backed by $10 billion in Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) financing, aims to store 60 critical minerals for civilian industries to strengthen industrial resilience and economic security during supply chain disruptions....

On January 15, 2026, President Trump signed the first critical minerals executive order (EO) of the year, titled “Adjusting Imports of Processed Critical Minerals and Their Derivative Products into the United States.” The order emphasizes the use of international cooperation to strengthen U.S. minerals security. With the United States fully import-dependent for 12 critical minerals and reliant on imports for more than half of its consumption of an additional 29, expanded coordination with allied and partner countries will be central to reducing supply chain vulnerabilities and dependence on China....

Introduction...

On Tuesday, January 6, China targeted Japan with new export restrictions on dual-use technologies, including rare earth elements, permanent magnets, and other critical minerals required for the production of defense technologies. The move is widely seen as a response to comments made in November by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who stated that an attack on Taiwan could constitute an “existential threat” to Japan and justify a military response. These retaliatory measures underscore rising tensions between Beijing and Tokyo and serve as a pointed warning from China to countries that take explicit positions on cross-strait relations. While previous Chinese export controls have largely been in response to trade disputes, this latest iteration ties export restrictions to the Taiwan issue, underlining that Beijing’s critical minerals strategy is closely intertwined with its broader military objectives....

Introduction...

On December 25, 1956, the New York Times declared, “Venezuela Finds Big Ore Deposits; Geologists Assert Reserves of Minerals May Approach Nation’s Oil in Importance.” Nearly seven decades later, that promise has largely gone unrealized. Far from emerging as a major global mining power, Venezuela’s mineral sector has remained marginal, fragmented, and chronically underdeveloped....

Introduction...

The visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington, D.C., marks a high-profile moment in the strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia. During meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, the two sides are discussing a wide-ranging agenda: advancing arms and defense cooperation, expanding critical minerals cooperation, deepening economic and investment ties, and aligning on regional security challenges. ...

The country can become a prominent player in global minerals security...