By Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw
(Reuters) -Top White House officials told a group of rare earths firms last week that they are pursuing a pandemic-era approach to boost U.S. critical minerals production and curb China’s market dominance by guaranteeing a minimum price for their products, five sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.
The previously unreported July 24 meeting was led by Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s trade advisor, and David Copley, a National Security Council official tasked with supply chain strategy. It included ten rare earths companies plus tech giants Apple, Microsoft and Corning, which all rely on consistent supply of critical minerals to make electronics, the sources said.
Navarro and Copley told the meeting that a floor price for rare earths extended to MP Materials earlier this month as part of a multibillion-dollar investment by the Pentagon was “not a one-off” and that similar deals were also in the works, the sources said.
U.S. critical minerals firms, which complain that China’s market dominance makes investing in mining projects risky, have long sought a federally backed price guarantee.
Rare earths, a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion, and other critical minerals are used widely across the electronics sector, including the manufacture of cell phones and weapons.
The officials detailed Trump’s desire to quickly boost U.S. rare earths output – through mining, processing, recycling and magnet production – in a manner that would evoke the speed of 2020’s Operation Warp Speed, which developed the COVID-19 vaccine in less than a year.
Navarro confirmed the meeting to Reuters. He said the administration aims to “move in ‘Trump Time,’ which is to say as fast as possible while maintaining efficiency” to remedy perceived vulnerabilities in the U.S. critical minerals industry. Navarro did not comment on whether he mentioned the price floor at the meeting.
“Our goal is to build out our supply chains from mines to end use products across the entire critical mineral spectrum, and the companies assembled at the meeting have the potential to play important roles in this effort,” Navarro said.
China – the world’s largest producer of rare earths for more than 30 years – halted exports in March as part of a trade spat with Washington that showed some signs of easing late last month, even as the broader tensions remain.
Beyond the price floor, Navarro and Copley advised attendees to avail themselves of existing government financial support, including billions of dollars worth of incentives in Trump’s tax and spending bill approved on July 4, the sources said.
Copley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apple signed a supply deal with MP after the Pentagon’s investment this month. At the Washington meeting, Navarro and Copley said Trump would like to see more tech companies invest in the rare earths sector, either through seed investing or by making buyouts, all of the sources said.
Apple and Corning did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Microsoft declined to comment.
EXPORT BAN REQUEST
While the attendees asked Navarro to support a ban on exports of equipment containing rare earth magnets to spur domestic recycling, Navarro told them he would push for that only after the U.S. rare earths industry is more developed so as not to prematurely give China leverage in the ongoing trade spat, according to the sources.
When asked about a potential ban, Navarro told Reuters: “All policy options are on the table. As President Trump loves to say, ‘Let’s see what happens.'”
Attendees included Phoenix Tailings, which is building a rare earths processing facility in New Hampshire, Momentum Technologies, which developed a modular battery and magnet recycling system, Vulcan Elements, which has built a pilot facility for rare earth magnets, and rare earths recyclers REEcycle and Cyclic Materials.
“These guys are serious about fixing the problem,” said Vulcan CEO John Maslin. “They want companies to partner.”
Redwood Materials and Cirba Solutions, two of North America’s largest battery recyclers, also attended.
TechMet, which invests in mining projects across the globe and in which the U.S. government holds a minority stake, also attended the meeting, as did Noveon, a Texas-based rare earths magnet company.
Phoenix, Momentum, Cirba, TechMet, Noveon, Cyclic, ReElement and REEcycle, all of which are privately held, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Redwood declined to comment.
The administration officials plan to meet again with the companies in roughly four to six weeks, a truncated timeline aimed at underscoring the administration’s desire to quickly support a U.S. minerals industry, the sources said.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Veronica Brown and Nia Williams)
