Trump’s critical mineral reserve plan aims to build an “industrial buffer stock” model, using Exim-linked financing plus private capital to reduce supply-chain shock risk.
Summary:
Donald Trump announced a US “critical mineral reserve” initiative, aimed at securing supplies for domestic industry.
The plan is framed as a strategic stockpile (often reported as “Project Vault”) to reduce exposure to supply shocks and China-linked bottlenecks.
Funding cited includes $10bn in financing via the Export-Import Bank of the United States plus around $2bn from private capital.
Structure points to an “oil-reserve style” buffer for critical inputs (rare earths and other key minerals), potentially targeting ~60 days of coverage in reporting.
Donald Trump announced the creation of a US critical mineral reserve designed to support American industry and reduce vulnerability to supply disruptions in strategic raw materials. The initiative is being positioned as an industrial backstop, conceptually similar to an emergency reserve, intended to cushion manufacturers from sudden shortages, export controls, or sharp price swings in minerals central to advanced manufacturing, defence supply chains and the clean-energy transition.
Funding details cited in reporting point to a roughly $12bn package, anchored by $10bn of financing linked to the Export-Import Bank of the United States, alongside about $2bn in private-sector capital. The involvement of private capital suggests the project is being structured to operate with commercial-style procurement and storage disciplines rather than as a purely government-run stockpile.
The announcement also carried a strong “real economy” signal: General Motors CEO Mary Barra was referenced as being present/associated with the launch, underscoring that automakers and industrial end-users are a central constituency for the plan. The reserve concept is aimed at inputs tied to EV supply chains, electronics and defence applications—areas where policymakers argue the US has become too exposed to concentrated overseas processing capacity.
Strategically, the move is widely framed as a response to China’s dominant position in parts of the critical minerals supply chain and its demonstrated ability to tighten access via export restrictions. For markets, the key question is execution: the effectiveness of any reserve will depend on what minerals are prioritised, how quickly inventories can be built, and whether parallel investment in domestic processing capacity keeps pace.
As an aside, a very niche aside, if you are in Australia and you like Ford Barra engines, no relation...
