In the cavernous halls of the US State Department last week, something unusual was on display: earnest cooperation rather than the usual diplomatic theatre. The inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial wasn’t about tariffs, trade tantrums, or chest-thumping press releases. It was, quite simply, a collective admission that the West is behind, China is ahead, and time is not on our side.
For the United States, the stakes are no longer academic. Critical minerals aren’t just inputs for batteries and wind turbines. They are strategic building blocks for modern defence, advanced manufacturing and economic independence. This is not a commodities story anymore. It’s a power story. And Washington gets it.
The Trump administration is backing ambitious measures, including a proposed $12-billion (C$16.3-billion) stockpile of essential raw materials – “Project Vault” – meant to shield US industry from shocks and reduce reliance on Beijing’s dominance. The Americans have discovered, rather late in the game, that you cannot build fighter jets, EVs, or the next industrial economy off of Chinese processing plants.
For the rest of this article: https://www.mining.com/op-ed-canadians-must-match-american-urgency-in-the-race-for-critical-minerals/
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