As the foundations of the U.S. economy and future growth is increasingly built around digital assets, the Trump administration wants to remind Americans that commodities they can see and touch are still very much in play. Past presidents have tried to steer markets away from speculative behavior by focusing on the fundamentals of the world’s most widely traded physical good: oil. But for Trump and his officials, there is another tangible commodity that has simply become too important to ignore.
Vance was addressing ministers from 55 countries, who this week gathered in Washington to discuss a critical minerals trading bloc. Such a partnership would be designed to undermine China’s stranglehold on the mining of key elements that make everything from smartphones to electric cars and fighter jets tick, the foundations of very real economic value that could rival the strategic importance of petroleum.
“A lot of us have learned the hard way, in some ways, over the last year how much our economies depend on these critical minerals,” Vance said during his speech.
“As much as data centers and technology and all of these incredible things that we’re all working on matter, fundamentally you still have an economy that runs on real things,” Vance said.
“That meeting took place during a moment where global energy supplies were concentrated, where markets were distorted, and access to a single critical resource—at that time, of course, being oil—had become a tool of political pressure,” Vance said.
Five decades later, the critical resource is rocks and minerals, and the concentration is almost entirely in the hands of a powerful economic adversary to the U.S. At the summit, Trump officials discussed greater collaboration with partners and allies to steel supply chains against potential shocks from China, floating a series of potential market mechanisms to do so, including price floors among participating nations.
“This entire effort will be stronger and far more competitive if we build it together,” Vance said.
