Washington, DC—Responding to the dual developments of EXIM’s Project Vault, the critical minerals stockpile, and the USTR’s framework to coordinate critical minerals trade, including border-adjusted price floors for certain priority minerals, Abigail Hunter, Executive Director of SAFE’s Center for Critical Minerals Strategy, gave the following statement:
“In its first year, the Trump administration has broken the land-speed record on federal minerals investments, with a major focus on unlocking the supply-side. This week moved the ball forward on two other key pieces of the puzzle: Helping to address demand-side vulnerabilities and working with international partners.
While we await full details of Project Vault, it is clear this new commercial stockpile helps domestic end-users—automakers, tech companies, and other manufacturers—especially if supplies are cut-off by an adversary. An effective commercial stockpile is no easy feat, but if successful, this will help smooth the mismatch between supply coming online and demand pull from supply chains while they are built out and established.
To complement this tool, today’s Summit with more than 50 countries brings our allies and international partners to the table, leveraging trade tools and bilateral agreements to create a new, market-oriented paradigm for critical minerals. This administration takes mineral supply security and combating Chinese strategic overcapacity very seriously—working with allied and partner governments is the fastest way to solve the problem, and we’re thrilled to see the largest-ever gathering of nations working to address this vulnerability.”
SAFE published research on pricing mechanisms in a December 2025 Issue Brief. Further analysis and commentary on ongoing developments will be shared on SAFE’s blog, The Fuse.
- Trading Tensions: Navigating Policy Tools for a Diverse Critical Minerals Supply Chain
- Resources for Resources: Financing Critical Minerals Supply Chains
- A Global Race to the Top for Critical Minerals
###
About SAFE
SAFE is an action-oriented, nonpartisan organization committed to transportation, energy, and supply chain policies that advance the economic and national security of the United States, its partners, and allies. SAFE has convened business and former military leaders since 2004 to support secure, resilient, and responsible energy solutions. Visit secureenergy.org to learn more.
