Trump team outlines push for rare earths in meeting with executives

The White House met last week with top technology and recycling companies to discuss ways to quickly ramp up production of permanent magnets using rare earth elements, which have emerged as a key point of leverage in the trade war with China.

Trade adviser Peter Navarro convened the meeting and told the executives that the administration is planning a major push to boost US production of the minerals, using incentives including guarantees of minimum prices to producers, according to people familiar with the event who asked not to be identified discussing a matter that isn’t public.

The administration has been racing to come up with alternative sources for rare earth magnets after China — which controls global production — imposed export controls in retaliation for US tariff threats. The magnets are used in products from home appliances and cars to missiles and the shutoff left companies warning they’d have to suspend production. China agreed to resume shipments after the US agreed not to impose the higher import levies.

A White House official confirmed the meeting took place but didn’t provide details on what was discussed. Earlier this month, the Department of Defense announced a $400 million equity stake in MP Materials Corp., the only US rare earth producer, that includes government-guaranteed minimum prices and purchases from the company.

“The MP rare earths deal is an essential part of an overall strategy to onshore critical minerals of which rare earths is just one part,” Navarro said in a statement released Thursday by the White House. “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.”

Some participants in the meeting with Navarro expressed concern that the MP deal may prevent the emergence of vibrant competitors in the sector.

At the meeting, Navarro told participants the administration is committed to creating a commercially viable environment to incubate the industry, including protective tariffs and price floors.

Participants said they came away from the session with the impression the administration is alarmed about the vulnerability that the lack of alternatives to Chinese supplies presents. The officials discussed the technical details of recycling of the magnets, which could bring production online faster than mine projects currently in the works.

Among the issues discussed was the possibility of banning the export of electronic waste to keep material for recycling in the US, the people said. Currently, most of the reprocessing needed to extract the magnets is done in China.

(By Joe Deaux)