US President Donald Trump announced the launch of the Strategic Mineral Reserve.
The stockpile, dubbed “Project Vault,” was announced Monday. It will combine $2 billion in private capital with a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
This is the White House’s latest move to invest in rare earth minerals needed to make key products such as semiconductor chips, smartphones and electric car batteries.
The goal is to “ensure that American businesses and American workers are never harmed by shortages,” Trump said at the White House.
The move to develop the strategic stockpile is the latest in a series of efforts by the Trump administration to seize control of the means to produce critical rare earth materials to limit dependence on other countries, particularly China, which has suppressed exports to gain leverage in negotiations with President Trump.
Here’s a look at some of the investments the U.S. government has made in this area.
What is an investment?
In 2025, the Trump administration acquired stock in seven companies by converting federal grants into ownership. The investment includes a 10% stake in USA Rare Earths, which plans to build a production facility for rare earth elements and magnets in the United States.
The project is supported by $1.6 billion in funding allocated under the CHIPS Act, a law passed during the administration of former Democratic President Joe Biden aimed at reducing dependence on China for semiconductor manufacturing.
USA Rare Earths announced the investment last week and expects commercial production to begin in 2028.
The U.S. government will also acquire about a 10% stake in Korea Zinc worth about $1.9 billion to finance a $7.4 billion smelter in Tennessee through a joint venture managed by the U.S. government and an unnamed U.S.-based strategic investor, which will then control about 10% of the Korean company.
The venture will operate a mining complex based on two mines and the only operating zinc smelter in the United States. Construction is expected to begin this year, with commercial operations expected to begin in 2029.
In October, the government announced a $35.6 million investment to acquire a 10% stake in Canada-based Trilogy Metals to support Alaska’s Upper Kobuk Mineral Project (UKMP). This investment will support the development of critical minerals including copper, zinc, gold and silver in the mineral-rich Ambler Mining District in northwest Alaska.
Also in October, the United States announced it would acquire a 5% stake in Lithium Americas as part of a joint venture with General Motors (GM) to finance operations at the Tucker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. The project, which supplies lithium for electric vehicles, has attracted significant interest from the Detroit-based automaker.
In August, the White House acquired a nearly 10 percent stake in Intel. The government’s investment in the semiconductor chip giant was an effort to fund the company’s build and expansion of domestic manufacturing capacity.
In July, the White House announced a 15% stake in MP Materials, which operates the only active rare earth mine in the United States in California. The federal government’s largest stakeholder in this investment was the Department of the Army (then known as the Department of Defense), which contributed $400 million.
Reuters also reported that the United States is reportedly considering acquiring an 8% stake in Critical Minerals as an interest in the Tremblies rare earth deposit in Greenland, supporting President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally acquire Denmark’s autonomous territory.
Sector stocks are mixed on news of President Trump’s stockpile plan. MP Materials and Intel rose 0.6% and 5%, respectively. Others ended the day on a downtrend. Lithium Americas fell 2.2%. Trilogy Metals fell almost 2 percent, U.S. Rare Earths fell 1.3 percent and Korean Zinc ended down 12.6 percent.
Is this unusual?
While it is unusual in U.S. history for the government to buy stock in large companies, it is not unprecedented.
During the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. government briefly acquired stock in several major companies through the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In 2009, TARP provided federal support to General Motors, eventually resulting in the government owning more than 60 percent of the company. The intervention began in the final months of former President George W. Bush’s administration. The government sold all of its GM stock in 2013.
The government also acquired a 9.9% stake in Chrysler through TARP, but Chrysler withdrew in 2011.
The program has expanded beyond automakers to the financial sector. The U.S. government acquired more than 73 percent of GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation, now Ally Financial) and relinquished ownership in 2014. It also acquired almost 74 percent of financial services insurance giant AIG, sold the remaining stake in 2012, acquired a 34 percent stake in Citigroup, and exited completely by 2010.
Nick Giles, senior equity research analyst at investment banking and capital markets firm B. Riley Securities, told Al Jazeera: “We’re not in a situation like 2008, where we needed to shore up important companies quickly. We need a more measured approach here. They (the US government) want these investments to be profitable and they have to be seen as good investments to attract other forms of capital.”
During the Great Depression, the government purchased stock in several large banks. Before that, in the early 20th century, it bought stock in the Panama Railway Company, which was responsible for building the railroads used during the construction of the Panama Canal. Its equity contributions were tied to specific projects rather than more open-ended issues, such as foreign dependence on critical minerals.
“There may not be an end date set, but it’s clear they’re looking to come back and this sends an important signal that there’s more to come. I don’t think they (the government) are going to let this fail,” Giles added.
Political disagreements over this approach
The interest in funding critical mineral projects was echoed by Trump’s predecessor, Biden, who introduced the CHIPS Act for that purpose. Biden was focused on subsidizing projects rather than buying stock.
President Trump’s approach to stock purchases is actually more in line with Democrats who are more progressive than members of his own party. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has long supported the U.S. government buying stock in companies.
After the White House bought Intel stock in August, Sanders praised the move.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be giving billions of dollars in corporate benefits to big, profitable companies like Intel without getting anything in return,” Sanders said at the time.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, known for his libertarian stance, called ownership a “terrible idea” on CNBC and called it “a step toward socialism.” North Carolina’s Thom Tillis likened investing in Intel to what countries like China and Russia would do.
For Babak Hafezi, a professor of international business at American University, the investment is a step toward eliminating dependence on China.
“Without domestic control and resilience in both extraction and production, we will be dependent on China. China extracts almost 60 percent of the world’s rare earth minerals and produces 90 percent of them. This creates a major choke point globally, which China could use as a means to dictate U.S. foreign policy through supply chain restrictions,” he said.
“Therefore, establishing a free and open market for American consumption is critical to eliminating any dependence.”
