Highlights

• Proposes comprehensive 6-point critical minerals strategy including forging a Global Rare Earth Alliance with trusted allies, appointing a Critical Minerals Czar, and investing in American talent and innovation to counter China's dominance.
• Calls for market stability through a Strategic Rare Earth Reserve with floor pricing, long-term offtake agreements, and designated Critical Mineral Industrial Zones with expedited permits and tax incentives.
• Advocates are leveraging private capital through a National Critical Minerals Investment Fund and market-driven ETFs to build a complete mine-to-magnet supply chain on U.S. soil without compromising environmental principles.

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Dear President Trump,

We write to you as an American deeply invested in our economic and national security, urging a bold course on rare earth elements and critical minerals. Your leadership to date has been commendable – no recent president has done more to elevate this issue. The Department of Defense’s partnership with MP Materials, for example, established a decade-long price floor for NdPr that has broken new ground. You also took important first steps with critical minerals executive orders and trade actions as we here at Rare Earth Exchanges have chronicled. These efforts are a start, but to truly secure our supply chains and ensure American industries thrive, we need a comprehensive industrial policy that reflects American values and ingenuity – not a copy of China’s model, but something better.

1. Forge a Global Rare Earth Alliance – Remove Allied Trade Barriers:

No nation can tackle China’s rare earth dominance alone. An isolationist stance won’t suffice; we must lead an allied coalition as we have cited many times. We urge you to formalize partnerships with trusted allies (Five Eyes, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), EU, Japan, Australia, etc.) to integrate our supply chains. As REEx declares in “_The Real Industrial Policy we Need: Global, Allied and Relentless” this includes coordinating production and offtake contracts so that Western producers have guaranteed buyers, and eliminating tariffs or quotas among allied nations so critical materials can flow freely within a trusted network. By banding together in this way, we can match China’s scale and blunt its ability to pit us against one another._

2. Appoint a Critical Minerals Czar to Streamline Strategy:

Our efforts are fragmented across many agencies. Appoint a Critical Minerals Czar with authority to coordinate and accelerate all government actions in this domain. See Is POTUS to Introduce Critical Minerals Czar, Military Base Refining Facilities? “ This single leader would align all relevant departments toward the common goal of supply chain security. The Czar should also have tools to fast-track permitting – for example, leveraging Defense Department sites or other federal lands for new refining facilities to bypass local logjams. Centralized, high-level oversight will cut through bureaucracy and ensure that mines, refineries, and factories move from plan to production on urgent timelines.

3. Invest in American Talent, Education, and Innovation:

China’s dominance comes not just from resources, but from deeply integrated technical expertise. We must close the skills gap by cultivating homegrown specialists in mining, refining, and advanced materials. Fund university programs, community colleges, and vocational training focused on mineral processing and magnet engineering. Use scholarships and apprenticeships to train the next generation, and recruit top experts from abroad to bolster our knowledge base. We also face an innovation gap – Chinese entities hold tens of thousands more patents on rare earth technologies than the U.S. as cited in Journal of Advanced Military Studies – so we must invest aggressively in R&D for extraction, recycling, and magnet substitutes. Breakthroughs in efficient rare-earth recycling and non-rare-earth magnet technology will help us leapfrog China’s head start. By developing our people and our technology, America can compete at the cutting edge without compromising environmental standards.

4. Ensure Market Stability with Strategic Support:

Without stable markets, new Western entrants can be driven out by China’s state-subsidized price slashing. To prevent this, expand on the MP Materials model across the industry. Establish a Strategic Rare Earth Reserve to purchase materials like NdPr oxide at a floor price, providing a buffer against dumping and price crashes. Offer long-term offtake agreements or price insurance for U.S.-based refiners and magnet makers so they can scale up with confidence. These measures ensure that if companies invest in America, they won’t be ruined by volatile markets or predatory pricing. Just as we stockpile oil for energy security, we should stockpile critical minerals and magnets for industrial security – assuring investors that the rug won’t be pulled out from under strategic projects.

5. Build Industrial Base with Hubs and Incentives:

China succeeded by creating entire supply-chain clusters with hefty state support. Designate Critical Mineral Industrial Zones in key regions (for example, around Mountain Pass in California or in Texas) where co-located mines, refineries, and magnet factories benefit from expedited permits and targeted incentives. Use federal infrastructure support and procurement (e.g. defense and clean energy orders) to anchor demand in these hubs. For firms in these zones, extend tax credits (like the IRA’s rare-earth magnet production credit) to reward domestic manufacturing of critical materials. By streamlining regulations and sweetening investment conditions, we can attract the capital needed to establish a full mine-to-magnet supply chain on U.S. soil.

6. Unleash Private Capital through Smart Financing:

Government support will go further if we leverage private investment. Create some sort of National Critical Minerals Investment Fund (a development bank) to finance strategic projects with low-interest loans and loan guarantees – this will de-risk ventures and draw in private capital. Also encourage market-driven initiatives like the current REEx modeled Rare Earth Exchanges U.S. & Allied Rare Earth Supply Chain ETF, which bundles ex-China miners, refiners, and manufacturers into a single investment product. Such an “ex-China” fund would channel capital to Western projects and demonstrate confidence in a secure supply chain. By aligning Wall Street’s incentives with national security, we ensure our companies have access to the funding needed to compete and scale.

Taken together, these actions form a rare-earth strategy that plays to America’s strengths – global in scope yet true to our free-enterprise values. We need not imitate China’s model; we can out-compete it through a coalition of free nations, strategic public-private efforts, and relentless innovation. Beijing’s dominance came from decades of focus and massive investment (often at the cost of their environment), but we can secure supply without compromising our principles.

You have ignited momentum through your initial actions. Now is the time to build a lasting framework for American independence from Beijing’s control. By educating ours and lots of our allies’ people, incentivizing industry, and uniting allies, we can ensure the 21st-century tech economy is anchored by an American-led supply network. Acting decisively today means the U.S. will write the rules of the future instead of reacting to others. Under your continued leadership, we will no longer be at the mercy of Beijing’s monopoly over critical minerals.

Sincerely,

The Rare Earth Exchanges Staff

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