Trump plans to stockpile deep-sea metals to counter China

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is drafting an executive order to enable the stockpiling of deep-sea metals to counter China’s dominance in battery minerals and rare earth supply chains, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Under the plans, the stockpile would “create large quantities ready and available on US territory to be used in the future”, in case of a conflict with China that might constrain imports of metals and rare earths, the report added.

Last week, China placed some rare earth elements under export restrictions as part of its response to President Donald Trump’s tariff package, potentially cutting the US off from minerals vital to everything from smartphones to electric car batteries.

The stockpile is being considered as part of a broader push to fast-track deep-sea mining applications under US law, and to create onshore processing capacity, the report added.

China produces around 90 per cent of the world’s refined rare earths, a group of 17 elements used across the defense, electric vehicle, clean energy and electronics industries. The US imports most of its rare earths, and most come from China.

The White House and China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments.

Separately, China said Wednesday it would hike tariffs on imports from the United States from 34 percent to 84 percent, hours after higher levies imposed on Chinese products by US President Donald Trump came into force.

Trump stuns with tariff backtrack but hikes China rate to 125pc

“Additional tariff rates… will rise from 34 percent to 84 percent”, effective from 12:01 pm on Thursday, the Chinese finance ministry said in a statement.