Washington, D.C. — Following the Department of Defense’s announcement yesterday that it will invest $400 million in rare earth miner MP Materials — making it the company’s largest shareholder — in efforts to reshore production, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“The Trump administration made a bold choice to fix our critical dependency on China’s rare earth magnet and material monopoly,” said Matt Stoller, Research Director at the American Economic Liberties Project. “The administration did three things. It made a substantial investment in rare earth producer MP Materials, it created a price floor for certain rare earth oxides by offering to stockpile surplus materials, and it offered guaranteed purchase agreement for 10 years for rare earth magnets created in the U.S. This ‘Operation Warp Speed’ kind of market crafting is exactly what we need do across a host of critical industries to reshore production.”

“At the same time, Trump is increasing tensions with Brazil, which holds the second largest reserves of rare earth minerals in the world, after China,” added Stoller. “That’s a serious problem. Still, two steps forward, one step back.”

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.