Overview
- A senior Pentagon official told senators the United States is executing a multiyear strategy to reshore production, expand loans and guarantees, invest in recycling, and modernize the national defense stockpile using Defense Production Act tools.
- China controls about 95% of heavy rare‑earth output, with the United States importing nearly all it uses and sourcing roughly 90% of those imports from China, the official said.
- Washington has outlined Project Vault, a roughly $12 billion plan to build strategic reserves of rare earths and other critical metals, alongside allied coordination through the FORGE platform.
- Allies are moving in parallel, with Australia launching an $800 million reserve, the European Union advancing a RESourceEU joint stockpile effort, South Korea expanding state‑backed buffers, and India and Brazil agreeing to deepen minerals cooperation.
- Analysts and the IEA say concentrated processing creates security risks, and experts warn that accelerating government stockpiling could distort markets or foster hoarding even as it strengthens supply resilience.