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Washington’s answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative begins in Armenia, and Vice President JD Vance is in the South Caucasus to pave the way. The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) may serve as the foundation stone of a broader network of transportation and economic corridors designed to secure critical Eurasian supply chains for the United States and to counter Chinese and Russian influence. However, the region lies on the periphery of U.S. geopolitical engagement; therefore, TRIPP’s implementation will require pragmatic solutions and a return to realpolitik in order to avoid aggressive countermeasures by other regional powers....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vance says the Trump administration is starting a trading bloc for critical minerals with price floors and financing.....

Japanese researchers have reportedly succeeded in mining mud thought to contain rare earth elements from a seabed some 5,700 meters underwater. The exploration vessel Chikyu, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, or JAMSTEC, has been conducting a test excavation of the mud since January. The seabed is within Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Pacific, roughly 150 kilometers southeast of the Japanese island of Minamitorishima. The test was held under a project led by Japan's Cabinet Office. Officials say the retrieval of mud began last Friday, and work to haul it onto the vessel took place...

President Donald Trump has kicked off $12 billion project to stockpile critical minerals used by the defense and technology sectors as a hedge against Chinese dominance of the strategically important industry in what the White House will call “Project Vault.” The public-private effort — first reported by Bloomberg — would use $1.67 billion in private seed funds and combine that cash with another $10 billion from the U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank for the purchase and storage of critical minerals and rare earths such as gallium and cobalt, a key ingredient in rechargeable batteries as well as modern jet engines used...

SUPPORTING AMERICAN INDUSTRY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Proclamation pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Act) ordering the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to jointly negotiate agreements with trading partners to address the threatened impairment of national security with respect to imports of processed critical minerals and their derivative products (PCMDPs) from any country.In negotiating, the Administration will, working with our allies, promote the adoption of price floors for trade in PCMDPs.The Secretary of Commerce will inform the President of any circumstances that might indicate the need for further action...

At first blush, Trump’s insistence on Greenland sounds outlandish, but recall over 20 yrs ago I began warning of foreigners aggressively claiming Arctic resources and waterways - while America slept. Russia was flagging underseas energy sources, our inventory of icebreakers dwindled to ONE reliable (against DOZENS of foreign-flagged vessels), and DC ignored my concerns of countries hogging new transportation routes that would screw us over. In explaining Alaska’s strategic location (30% of which is in the #Arctic) I was mocked for ringing the warning bells… but really I was just before my time. So now that attention is finally paid,...

Korea Zinc announced on Monday a $7.4 billion smelter project in Tennessee that will be backed by the U.S. government and which will lessen our reliance on China for critical minerals used in defense systems, electronics, and so much more that powers our modern world. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took to X to laud the news: The tweet continues: Today, we announced a major investment with Korea Zinc to build a state-of-the-art critical minerals smelter and processing facility in Tennessee that will produce 540,000 tons per year of essential materials right here in America. He continued, listing a range of...

A project heralded by Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and accelerated by President Donald Trump stands to deal a huge blow to China’s dominance in the nanotechnology, energy and automotive sectors as the GraphiteOne site near Nome uncovered vast reserves — for which Beijing previously accounted for 90% of production. As of 2024, the U.S. was at least 93% import-dependent on both rare earth elements (REEs) and graphite itself, according to the International Energy Agency, and the Graphite Creek deposit has already been dubbed the largest such tranche in the U.S. But, this week’s announcement that REEs were discovered in addition...

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are due to meet in South Korea next week. However, it is uncertain whether they actually will. Such is the shocking state of the world’s most important relationship. For weeks, America and China have been lashing out at each other. America has tightened tech-export restrictions and threatened higher tariffs; China has wielded sanctions and restrictions on rare earths. The two sides communicate poorly. In the White House there is a belief that America has the upper hand in this test of nerves and pain-tolerance. Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, says China is “weak”. But the...

The U.S. doesn’t produce the minerals and metals needed for renewable energy, microchips or military technology. Authorities want to change that as quickly as possible.Major oil companies are drilling in East Texas again, but not for oil. This time, they're after lithium for batteries and other rare elements.Chevron and Halliburton announced East Texas projects this summer. Exxon has acreage across the border in Arkansas. Smackover Lithium, a joint venture of a Norwegian oil giant and a Canadian miner, announced in late September the discovery of the most lithium-rich fluids ever reported in North America, measured deep beneath its Texas claims...

On Friday, President Trump made two posts on Truth Social in response to China’s announcement of stringent export controls on rare earth elements (REE) and related processing equipment. In the first post, he appeared to threaten to cancel his meeting with Xi at the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea. More importantly, in his second post, he announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports in response to Beijing’s economic coercion, effective November 1 or earlier. If implemented, this would bring the total tariff rate for China to 130%.pic.twitter.com/5TcdNuNWv2— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 10, 2025pic.twitter.com/TtnPx2l2er— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47)...

Lithium Americas (LAC) shares are up more than 25% on Wednesday after the U.S. government confirmed plans of taking a minority equity stake in the Vancouver-headquartered lithium miner.

The Department of the Interior on Monday released a draft 2025 list of 54 minerals deemed critical to the US economy and national security. The update, developed by the US Geological Survey (USGS), includes six new additions: copper, silver, potash, silicon, rhenium and lead. Arsenic and tellurium were recommended for removal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will restore two sprawling national monuments in Utah that have been at the center of a long-running public lands dispute, and a separate marine conservation area in New England that recently has been used for commercial fishing. Environmental protections at all three monuments had been stripped by former President Donald Trump. The White House announced the changes Thursday night ahead of a ceremony expected Friday. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, expressed disappointment in Biden’s decision to restore Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, which the Trump administration downsized significantly in 2017. The monuments...

RUBAYA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Under the watchful eye of M23 rebels in the hills around the Congolese town of Rubaya, a line of men in rubber boots ferry sacks full of crushed rocks up winding paths cut into the slopes.The laborers are hauling coltan ore, a mineral that powers the modern world. The ore will be loaded onto motorbikes and eventually shipped thousands of kilometers away to Asia. There it’s processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that fetches more than $300 a kilogram and is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas...

Edging away from the unreliable China supply chain, the Pentagon is going in-house.The Pentagon is making a signal shift in its defense industrial policy. In a recent move, the Department of Defense (DOD) has acquired a significant stake in MP Materials, a US domestic rare earth minerals mining company. Consistent with the Trump administration’s objective to reduce or eliminate America’s dependence on China for supply chains critical to national security, this move is seen as a strategic step. It aims to establish a defense industrial policy that can provide for a surging production capability more rapidly to meet emerging threats....

China controls roughly 90 percent of the rare-earth materials used in high-tech manufacturing, but the United States, Australia and Japan are exploring new sources that could end the Chinese monopoly. The U.S. military is facing a potential crisis at the very bottom of its supply chain. Rare-earth elements have become the new oil, playing a major role in the technological advancements made in the last 50 years. Everything from GPS navigation capability, cell phones, fiber optics, computers, automobiles and missiles relies heavily on rare-earth elements for development and production. For example, according to a 2013 report from the Congressional Research...

DORAL, Fla. — An armed man was shot and wounded after he shouted about President Trump and opened fire at the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club in South Florida early Friday, the police said. The authorities did not immediately describe a motive for the attack at about 1:30 a.m. in the marble-floored lobby of the club’s hotel, which is owned by the Trump Organization. They identified the suspect as Jonathan Oddi, 42, and said they believed he had acted alone.

Ukraine has signed a deal with the United States, giving the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare minerals as it continues to work with the Trump administration in an effort to end its three-year war with Russia. Ukrainian Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko flew to Washington, D.C., Wednesday to help finalize the deal. "On behalf of the Government of Ukraine, I signed the Agreement on the Establishment of a United States–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country," she wrote on X. Upon taking...

Accelerates permitting procedures to develop American Energy Dominance... In response to President Donald J. Trump’s declaration of a National Energy Emergency, the U.S. Department of the Interior will implement emergency permitting procedures to accelerate the development of domestic energy resources and critical minerals. These measures are designed to expedite the review and approval, if appropriate, of projects related to the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, or generation of energy within the United States. The new permitting procedures will take a multi-year process down to just 28 days at most...