{"id":6711,"date":"2025-06-12T14:17:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T20:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vpzajoti4c.onrocket.site\/news\/trump-administration-eyes-defense-production-act-to-supercharge-rare-earth-independence\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T08:55:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T14:55:57","slug":"trump-administration-eyes-defense-production-act-to-supercharge-rare-earth-independence","status":"publish","type":"news-archive","link":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/news\/trump-administration-eyes-defense-production-act-to-supercharge-rare-earth-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Administration Eyes Defense Production Act to Supercharge Rare Earth Independence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Trump administration exploring Defense Production Act to fund rare earth element mining and processing projects<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Goal is to reduce U.S. dependence on China for critical minerals used in defense and technology sectors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strategic move aims to rebuild domestic REE supply chains<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Protect national economic and military interests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n<p><em>In a potentially seismic shift for U.S. industrial policy, the Trump administration is reportedly weighing the use of the Defense Production Act (DPA)\u2014a Cold War-era authority\u2014to directly fund and fast-track <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/?post_type=acf-post-type&amp;p=38\" title=\"News\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"81606\">rare earth<\/a> element (REE) mining, processing, and downstream technology projects.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-06-12\/us-eyes-plan-to-use-cold-war-era-powers-to-develop-rare-earths?srnd=phx-economics-v2&amp;embedded-checkout=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"external-link\">a Bloomberg report published today<span class=\"sr-only\"> (opens in a new tab)<\/span><\/a>, senior officials are exploring the DPA\u2019s full arsenal of tools: loans, grants, government procurement contracts, and strategic financing mechanisms. While no final decisions or timelines have been announced, sources indicate that the intention is to reduce America's reliance on China for critical minerals that power everything from fighter jets to electric vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This move comes amid intensifying economic pressure. China recently tightened export restrictions on dysprosium and terbium\u2014two heavy rare earths vital for defense\u2014and secured new production footholds in Myanmar via militia-protected operations. The U.S., despite owning domestic ore (e.g., at Mountain Pass), still lacks key refining and separation infrastructure, leaving national security exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If enacted, the DPA approach would represent the first significant use of centralized industrial authority to rebuild REE supply chains since the end of the Cold War. Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) has, since our inception last October, called for such action, including DPA-backed capital, permitting reform, and vertically integrated REE hubs, as market-driven solutions have repeatedly failed to close the refining gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics may see this as another Trump power play. Still, the strategic calculus is clear: America cannot secure its economic or military future while relying on an adversary to process the minerals that make modern power possible.\u00a0 In this case, the power move is likely justified! An industrial policy is also of paramount importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The clock is ticking. China's leverage is real. This time, Washington must do more than announce\u2014it must act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: Joe Deaux, Jenny Leonard, and Jennifer A. Dlouhy. <em>\u201cTrump Mulls Using Defense Powers to Fund Rare-Earth Projects,\u201d<\/em> Bloomberg, June<\/p>\n<span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump administration considers using Defense Production Act to break China&#8217;s rare earth minerals monopoly and strengthen U.S. industrial policy and national security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"news-type":[125,132,122],"organization":[326],"regions":[315,320],"class_list":["post-6711","news-archive","type-news-archive","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","news-type-aerospace-defense","news-type-industrial-metals","news-type-ree-news","organization-mp-materials","regions-china","regions-united-states"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-archive\/6711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-archive"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-archive"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6711"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-archive\/6711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79134,"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-archive\/6711\/revisions\/79134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=6711"},{"taxonomy":"organization","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/organization?post=6711"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rareearthexchanges.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=6711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}