Trump aims to fight China’s dominance in critical minerals

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Trump administration is considering investing in companies that mine and process critical minerals in an effort to end U.S. dependence on imports from countries including China, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said this week.

“We should be taking some of our balance sheet and making investments,” Burgum said late Wednesday at a conference organized by the Hamm Institute for American Energy. “The U.S. may need to make an “equity investment in each of these companies that’s taking on China in critical minerals,” he said.

China dumps minerals on international markets, collapsing prices and making it difficult for U.S. companies to compete, Burgum said. “You’re competing against state capital because China is picking these strategically as areas that they want to invest in,” Burgum said.

The U.S. could use a vehicle like a sovereign wealth fund to invest in domestic miners focused on extracting and processing critical minerals, he said. “Why wouldn’t the wealthiest country in the world have the biggest sovereign wealth fund,” the Interior Secretary said.

Retaliatory export controls

Beijing earlier this month imposed export controls on rare earth elements — a subset of critical minerals —in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision to hike tariffs on goods made in China. Rare earth elements are used in key industries including defense, energy and automobiles. The U.S. imported 80% of the rare earths it used in 2024, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. About 70% of U.S. rare earth imports came from China in 2023.

“We have to get back in the game,” Burgum said, referring to mining. “It’s not just drill, baby, drill. It’s mine, baby, mine. If we don’t do that as a country, we will not be successful. We will literally be at the mercy of others that are controlling our supply chains.”

The Trump administration is also considering a sovereign risk insurance fund to guard companies that invest in approved projects against changing political winds in Washington, he said. If a future president cancels a project through executive fiat, companies would be paid back from the fund, Burgum said.

“Think of it like an insurance market that would be backed by the federal government,” Burgum said. “You got to write a check. There’s got to be a financial cost if you’re going to do these decisions where you’re destroying our balance sheet or destroying a company’s opportunity,” he said.

The U.S. needs to stockpile key critical minerals through a mechanism similar to the strategic petroleum reserve, Burgum said. When China dumps minerals on global markets and prices plummet, the U.S. should buy those minerals and stockpile them, he said.

“Those three things would put us in the game around critical minerals — the stockpiling, the sovereign risk insurance and the ability to take an equity position. We’re working on all three of those,” he said.