The initiative will be funded by $10 billion from the country's Export-Import Bank.
US President Donald Trump has announced the creation of a reserve of critically important minerals. "Today we are launching a project that will be called Project Vault to ensure that American businesses and workers will never suffer from a lack of resources," he said at an event at the White House on Monday evening, February 2.
According to Trump, the project will combine $1.67 billion of private capital with a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States for the purchase and storage of minerals, primarily for automakers and technology companies. The Head of State noted that this reserve would be created on the same principle that previously existed for the needs of the country's national defense, and assessed this idea as "amazing."
In turn, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Douglas Bergam said that this week it will be announced the inclusion of "11 additional countries" in the club of trade in critically important minerals, the Reuters news agency reports. Trading companies Hartree Partners, Traxys North America and Mercuria Energy Group will manage the purchase of raw materials for the reserves, an unnamed representative of the Trump administration told the agency. It is assumed that this step will dramatically reduce the dependence of businesses on Chinese rare earths. dw.com.
