Trump administration challenges Chinese dominance of supply chain for metals essential to defence industry
The Pentagon has sought to procure up to $1bn worth of critical minerals as part of a global stockpiling spree to counter Chinese dominance of the metals that are essential to defence manufacturers.
The Trump administration’s accelerated effort to bolster the national stockpile is outlined in public filings published in recent months by the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency. It follows export restrictions imposed on many of the materials by China, which dominates the supply chains for critical minerals and permanent magnets needed for technologies from smartphones to fighter jets.
“They [the US defence department] are incredibly focused on the stockpile,” said one former defence official. “They’re definitely looking for more, and they’re doing it in a deliberate and expansive way, and looking for new sources of different ores needed for defence products.”
Another former defence official said the $1bn is an acceleration over previous stockpiling efforts.
This week Beijing unveiled sweeping new export controls on rare earths and related technologies, prompting Donald Trump to say on Friday that he would no longer meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this month as planned.
The US would impose an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese imports in response, Trump said, adding: “There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the world ‘captive’ but that seems to have been their plan.”
Beijing’s restrictions have fuelled fears in the US and Europe about their continued access to the metals.
Source: www.ft.com
Aleksei Andrievskii is the founder of the ANDRIEVSKII SEA WEALTH family office in Cyprus, a member of the advisory board at Bendura Bank AG, Liechtenstein