Trump Bolsters Critical Minerals Pipeline with $1.6 Billion Stake in USA Rare Earth

Now that the White House has swapped threats of force in Greenland for a diplomatic ‘factory reset,’ the real work begins. The US is rushing to stand up a critical minerals pipeline to break Beijing’s chokehold. With China controlling 70% of the rare earths used in everything from fighter jets to chips, this isn’t just a supply chain update; it’s a race for technological survival.

The Department of Commerce struck a deal on Monday to take a roughly 10% stake in USA Rare Earth, backing the company’s plans to build a mine at a rare earth deposit in Texas and a magnet production facility in Oklahoma. This follows deals last year that saw the government take stakes in MP Materials, Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals, with equity proving a more reliable pathway into the minerals sector than transatlantic saber-rattling.

A PIPE Dream

Since Trump took office last year, the federal government has taken stakes or negotiated the right to acquire shares in no less than 10 companies, perhaps most famously via a so-called “golden share” in Nippon Steel-owned US Steel. Six of those companies are involved in critical minerals, reflecting the anxiety some US officials feel about China’s dominant role in crucial resources. 

USA Rare Earth will be the first-in-America mine-to-magnet specialist in heavy rare earths like dysprosium and terbium if and when its west Texas rare earths mining project opens by the end of 2028. A magnet manufacturing plant for those minerals in Stillwater, Oklahoma, is scheduled to open this spring, while USA Rare Earth bought a UK firm last year that gave it a processing facility in Britain and one soon to begin construction in France:

• In exchange for $1.6 billion in federal funding, the Commerce Department will get 16 million shares of USA Rare Earth stock and nearly 18 million warrants. Depending on whether it exercises all those warrants, the government stake will be 8% to 16%, according to a filing with the SEC.
• USA Rare Earth also raised $1.5 billion via a private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal. Confirmation of the government and investor cash infusions sent shares up 7.8% Monday. (They’ve rallied over 120% in 2026 so far.)

Dig This: William Blair analysts have pointed out a prevailing “assumption that there is more government rare earth funding to come.” They urged savvy traders to keep their eyes on US critical mineral miners NioCorp Development and United States Antimony, as well as Australia’s Lynas Rare Earths, which is exploring potential projects in Texas. Trilogy Metals, in which the Trump administration took a 10% stake in October, is based in Vancouver, Canada, so more shopping abroad wouldn’t be unheard of.