Trade bloc, strategic reserve, bilateral agreements... Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has stepped up initiatives to strengthen the United States' supply of rare earths and reduce dependence on China. A frantic race which nevertheless comes up against structural problems.

Published on: 02/08/2026 - 1:44 p.m.

In his trade war against China, Donald Trump calls on his "allies" to the rescue. The United States has unveiled an agreement on trade in critical minerals, the aim of which is to impose coordinated floor prices on China. This initiative includes 55 nations including those of the EU, Australia, Japan, India as well as several African countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was announced Wednesday February 4 by Vice President J.D. Vance, in the presence of the foreign ministers concerned.

It aims to guarantee the supply of strategic materials and in particular rare earths, a group of 17 metals crucial in technological sectors and the energy transition.

Read alsoTrade war: rare earths, a formidable Chinese weapon against Trump and the EU

Two days earlier, Donald Trump unveiled Project Vault, a strategic reserve, financed to the tune of $12 billion. A stock of rare earths, nickel, cobalt and graphite to protect American industry, particularly in the field of defense.

Strategic leverage

These projects are part of the American president's strategy to reduce the United States' dependence on China. “I think many of us have learned the hard way (…) over the last year how much our economies depend on these essential minerals,” J.D. Vance said on Wednesday.

In October, Donald Trump was forced to make concessions, reducing customs duties and lifting additional port costs imposed on Chinese products, in the face of Beijing's threat to reduce its exports of rare earths. A lever also used by China against Japan, when, in January, Beijing restricted its exports there after the Prime Minister's comments on possible collective defense in Taiwan.

Read alsoDuring a deep-water mission, Japan extracts sediments containing rare earths

Mass extractions and international agreements

To protect itself, the United States has undertaken to massively relaunch extraction on its own soil. In January 2018, they reopened the Mountain Pass mine in California. Struggling with Chinese competition, it closed in 2002 after several environmental scandals.

In a few years, it has become the second largest production site in the world with 45,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides extracted annually, or 12% of global production.

At the same time, Donald Trump is trying to extend his control over global stocks by increasing the number of “deals”. After Ukraine and the DR Congo, where he exchanged military aid for priority access to critical materials, the American president has set his sights on Greenland and its vast unexploited deposits.

Also read: Trump to the aid of the DR Congo? What we know about the mining agreement discussed between the two countries

Donald Trump also plans to obtain supplies from the Pacific seabed, via a mining exploration agreement signed in August 2025 with the Cook Islands. This 240 km² Polynesian archipelago sits on a real treasure: an exclusive submerged economic zone of 2 million km² rich in polymetallic nodules (cobalt, nickel, rare earths). A unique ecological heritage today threatened by the race for critical metals.

Read alsoExploiting minerals from the seabed, Norway's controversial "fantasy"

Refining problem

To secure supplies, the United States is relying on two pillars. On the one hand, the acceleration of national production, thanks in particular to the opening of new mines, in Wyoming (2025) and Texas (2028).

On the other, diversify suppliers as much as possible, to reduce the risk of shortages. The Vault project aims to constitute a buffer stock corresponding to two months of industrial consumption in the event of a crisis.

A well-established plan but which will not be enough to get rid of dependence on China, which represents more than 60% of world production but also and above all, 90% of refining, the complex chemical process which allows rare earths to be separated. This essential, but extremely polluting, step was severely limited in the West at the end of the 20th century and relocated for financial and environmental considerations.

Result: once extracted, most American rare earths today go to China. Only 10 to 30% is refined on site, due to lack of sufficient processing capacity.

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Illusory sovereignty?

MP Materials, the operator of the Mountain Pass mine, aims to create by 2027 a complete production chain for the defense sector, enabling the creation of permanent rare earth magnets, essential for drone engines, guided missiles or even for the construction of fighter planes.

The United States could meet about 95% of its domestic demand for rare earths essential for magnets by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

But the need for rare earths is not limited to this use: they fulfill others in many strategic sectors, from electronics to medicine, including metallurgy, petrochemicals and automobiles. And their demand is constantly growing. Even if forced, it will take several decades for the United States to completely break its dependence on China, experts estimate.

Also read: Giant rare earth deposit discovered in Sweden: a good opportunity for the EU to face China?

“For a very long time, Americans and Europeans have highlighted the ecological issue while forgetting one thing: without metals there is no energy transition,” underlines Michel Fayad, professor at the French Institute of Petroleum and New Energies (IFP EN).

Faced with China, they have no other choice today than to "stick together", he continues, to protect their industries and try to free themselves from Chinese hegemony.

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