Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stated that the Trump administration is considering investments in companies that mine and process critical minerals, aiming to end U.S. dependence on imports from China and other countries.
Strategic Plans to Strengthen Domestic Production
At a conference organized by the Hamm Institute for American Energy this week, Burgum declared: “We should be taking some of our balance sheet and making investments.” He suggested that the United States may need to “make an equity investment in each of these companies that’s taking on China in critical minerals.”
According to Burgum, China deliberately floods international markets with minerals, causing price collapses and making it difficult for American companies to compete. “You’re competing against state capital because China is picking these strategically as areas that they want to invest in,” the Secretary explained.
The U.S. could use a vehicle similar to a sovereign wealth fund to invest in domestic miners focused on extracting and processing critical minerals. “Why wouldn’t the wealthiest country in the world have the biggest sovereign wealth fund,” Burgum rhetorically asked.
Retaliatory Measures and Critical Import Dependence
Beijing imposed export controls on rare earth elements – a subset of critical minerals – earlier this month in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision to increase tariffs on goods made in China. Rare earth elements are used in key industries including defense, energy, and automobiles.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States imported approximately 80% of the rare earths it consumed in 2024. About 70% of U.S. rare earth imports came from China in 2023.
“We have to get back in the game,” Burgum emphasized, referring to mining. “It’s not just drill, baby, drill. It’s mine, baby, mine. If we don’t do that as a country, we will not be successful. We will literally be at the mercy of others that are controlling our supply chains.”
Three Key Tools for Independence
The Trump administration is also considering creating a sovereign risk insurance fund to protect companies investing in approved projects against changing political winds in Washington. If a future president cancels a project through executive fiat, companies would be compensated from the fund.
“Think of it like an insurance market that would be backed by the federal government,” Burgum explained. “You got to write a check. There’s got to be a financial cost if you’re going to do these decisions where you’re destroying our balance sheet or destroying a company’s opportunity.”
The U.S. also needs to stockpile key critical minerals through a mechanism similar to the strategic petroleum reserve. When China dumps minerals on global markets and prices plummet, the U.S. should buy those minerals and stockpile them, the Secretary recommended.
“Those three things would put us in the game around critical minerals – the stockpiling, the sovereign risk insurance and the ability to take an equity position. We’re working on all three of those,” Burgum concluded.
