On rare earth supply, Trump for once seeks allies
By AFP
February 4, 2026
Employees work on an assembly line for electric flying cars, which will require critical minerals, at a factory of Xpeng's subsidiary Aridge in Guangzhou, China -
By AFP
February 4, 2026
Employees work on an assembly line for electric flying cars, which will require critical minerals, at a factory of Xpeng's subsidiary Aridge in Guangzhou, China -
Copyright AFP/File Jade GAO
Shaun TANDON
In his year since returning to office, President Donald Trump has shown disdain for longstanding alliances, vowing “America First” even if US friends lose out.
But on Wednesday, his administration will attempt the closest it has come to traditional alliance diplomacy, leading a meeting of more than 50 countries on ensuring a stable supply of critical minerals.
The trigger is simple — China. The Asian power, seen by the United States as its long-term rival, has secured a dominant role over critical minerals, including rare earths vital to modern technologies from smartphones to electric cars to fighter jets.
China, flexing muscle in a trade war launched by Trump, last year tightened its supply chain for rare earths, sending shivers through the global economy.
China — which mines some 60 percent of the world’s rare earths and processes around 90 percent — offered the United States a one-year reprieve in a deal with Trump in October.
The United States has aggressively reached agreements on critical minerals with allies including Japan — which this week said it found potential in the first deep-sea search for rare earths — as well as Australia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that another 11 countries will join Wednesday and that another 20 are interested in participating in what he called a “global coalition,” a phrase rarely uttered by the Trump administration.
“The concept there is that we would have tariff-free trade and exchanges amongst those countries around these critical and rare-earth minerals,” Burgum said Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Burgum said that the emerging bloc could go against free-market principles that the United States has historically espoused by regulating a minimum price for certain key minerals.
“If you have someone who’s dominant who can flood a market with a particular material, they have the ability to essentially destroy the economic value of a company or a country’s production,” he said, in a veiled reference to China.
– Go it alone, usually –
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the one-day ministerial meeting at the State Department.
Among senior officials in attendance will be the top diplomat of India — which is especially concerned about Chinese industrial dominance, and moved recently to patch up with Trump after a rift — as well as the foreign ministers of Italy, a go-to European partner for Trump, and Israel, which is eager for any US-led initiatives that would integrate it further in its region.
Trump since returning to office has vowed to use US might to secure wealth only for itself, even flirting with invading Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
Trump will still seek US dominance on minerals.
On Monday he unveiled “Project Vault,” which aims to stockpile critical minerals and effectively anything else needed by US industry.
“We’re not just doing certain minerals and rare earths. We’re doing everything,” Trump said of the project, mentioning also magnets vital to car manufacturing.
The project will be driven by a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and $1.7 billion in private capital, a White House official said.
The European Union, which has seen persistent friction with Trump, hopes to seek a formal agreement on rare earths with the United States.
“We have to make sure that we’re not bidding each other up for the same supplies,” an EU official said.
US-led cooperation on critical minerals is not new.
Former president Joe Biden’s administration in 2022 launched the Minerals Security Partnership, which expanded to two dozen countries including key US allies.
The initiative looked at collaborative funding, with the Export-Import Bank under Biden proposing a $500 million loan for a rare-earths mine and processing plant in Australia.
Shaun TANDON
In his year since returning to office, President Donald Trump has shown disdain for longstanding alliances, vowing “America First” even if US friends lose out.
But on Wednesday, his administration will attempt the closest it has come to traditional alliance diplomacy, leading a meeting of more than 50 countries on ensuring a stable supply of critical minerals.
The trigger is simple — China. The Asian power, seen by the United States as its long-term rival, has secured a dominant role over critical minerals, including rare earths vital to modern technologies from smartphones to electric cars to fighter jets.
China, flexing muscle in a trade war launched by Trump, last year tightened its supply chain for rare earths, sending shivers through the global economy.
China — which mines some 60 percent of the world’s rare earths and processes around 90 percent — offered the United States a one-year reprieve in a deal with Trump in October.
The United States has aggressively reached agreements on critical minerals with allies including Japan — which this week said it found potential in the first deep-sea search for rare earths — as well as Australia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that another 11 countries will join Wednesday and that another 20 are interested in participating in what he called a “global coalition,” a phrase rarely uttered by the Trump administration.
“The concept there is that we would have tariff-free trade and exchanges amongst those countries around these critical and rare-earth minerals,” Burgum said Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Burgum said that the emerging bloc could go against free-market principles that the United States has historically espoused by regulating a minimum price for certain key minerals.
“If you have someone who’s dominant who can flood a market with a particular material, they have the ability to essentially destroy the economic value of a company or a country’s production,” he said, in a veiled reference to China.
– Go it alone, usually –
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the one-day ministerial meeting at the State Department.
Among senior officials in attendance will be the top diplomat of India — which is especially concerned about Chinese industrial dominance, and moved recently to patch up with Trump after a rift — as well as the foreign ministers of Italy, a go-to European partner for Trump, and Israel, which is eager for any US-led initiatives that would integrate it further in its region.
Trump since returning to office has vowed to use US might to secure wealth only for itself, even flirting with invading Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
Trump will still seek US dominance on minerals.
On Monday he unveiled “Project Vault,” which aims to stockpile critical minerals and effectively anything else needed by US industry.
“We’re not just doing certain minerals and rare earths. We’re doing everything,” Trump said of the project, mentioning also magnets vital to car manufacturing.
The project will be driven by a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and $1.7 billion in private capital, a White House official said.
The European Union, which has seen persistent friction with Trump, hopes to seek a formal agreement on rare earths with the United States.
“We have to make sure that we’re not bidding each other up for the same supplies,” an EU official said.
US-led cooperation on critical minerals is not new.
Former president Joe Biden’s administration in 2022 launched the Minerals Security Partnership, which expanded to two dozen countries including key US allies.
The initiative looked at collaborative funding, with the Export-Import Bank under Biden proposing a $500 million loan for a rare-earths mine and processing plant in Australia.
By AFP
February 4, 2026
Europe's rare earths are mostly imported from China -
Copyright AFP Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV
Corentin DAUTREPPE
President Donald Trump’s administration is set Wednesday to host ministers from the European Union and other countries in a major meeting on “critical minerals”.
This broad category includes dozens of materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, and lithium — as well as “rare earths,” a set of 17 metallic elements that are essential to many high-tech devices and whose production is dominated by China.
– Neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium –
Global raw production of rare earths increased from 220,000 tonnes in 2019 to 390,000 tonnes in 2024 — an increase of 77 percent over five years, according to a benchmark commodities report by French research group Cercle CyclOpe.
Four elements account for most of the sector’s economic value: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
– Magnets for wind turbines –
These four “magnetic” rare earths are mainly used to make permanent magnets, notably neodymium-iron-boron magnets — about 10 times more powerful than conventional ones.
Use of the rare elements maximises magnets’ performance while reducing size and weight, said Damien Ambroise, energy manager at French consultancy Bartle.
A single offshore wind turbine contains up to one tonne of such magnetic rare earths.
– Fighter jets, golf clubs –
Aviation is a major consumer of rare earths, especially for military plane manufacturing.
According to the US specialist newsletter Rare Earth Exchanges, US aerospace firm Lockheed Martin is the biggest American user of samarium, employed to make magnets that can withstand extremely high temperatures.
Each F-35 fighter jet requires more than 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of rare earths, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service.
Scandium is used to make light, strong aluminium-based alloys prized in aerospace — and also in high-end sports gear such as golf clubs, bicycles and baseball bats.
– Smartphones –
Rare earths are likewise found in every smartphone, enhancing screen performance and enabling the phone to vibrate.
Each handset contains about three grams of them — more than 3,700 tonnes overall for the 1.24 billion devices sold worldwide in 2024.
– Electric and fuel vehicles –
Each hybrid or electric vehicle motor contains between 1.2 and 3.5 kilograms of rare earths, according to an estimate by France’s Bureau of Geological and Mining Research.
They are also used in the manufacture of miniature motors, such as those that fold away a car’s wing mirrors automatically when it is parked.
Combustion-engine vehicles use rare earths too, notably in catalytic converters. Lanthanum and cerium help cut fine particle emissions.
– Oil, glass, lasers –
In the chemical industry, cerium is widely used in oil refining and glass polishing — as well as in flints for cigarette lighters.
Erbium is used in various medical fields, including dentistry, dermatology and ophthalmology.
Erbium and neodymium are also important in making lasers for industrial engraving and cutting.
Adding different rare earths alters the wavelength of the laser, and thus its use and colour, Ambroise said. “It makes for pretty colours in sound-and-light shows.”
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