Pentagon Officials Tell Senators Trumps Critical Mineral Plan Will Work in Due Course

MP Materials’ main gate at its Mountain Pass mine in California near the Nevada state line about 50 miles from Las Vegas in mid-January 2026, six months after the Trump administration announced it was investing $400 million in taxpayer monies to purchase a 15 percent stake in the company. John Haughey/The Epoch TimesThe Trump administration has funneled $15 billion in grants, tax credits, and incentives into 15 critical mining and refining projects, including $1 billion in taxpayer-funded “equity investments” into private companies, but Pentagon officials caution it will take years of such sustained investment for domestic industry, including defense manufacturers, to overcome China’s manipulation of global minerals and metals markets.Assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenazzi told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a 90-minute Feb. 24 hearing that it will require “sustained aggressive action” and new approaches to loosen the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) grip on critical minerals needed for a range of electronics, from iPhones to F-35 fighter jets, that it steadily, and strategically, has built over decades.