CEO of Aclara Resources Ramón Barúa Costa talks about how his company is joining the US push for rare earth independence from China during ‘The Claman Countdown’.
Call it “The Art of the Rare Earth Deal.” President Trump has embarked on a bold new rare earth diplomacy to reduce China’s global dominance in the rare earth supply chain needed to power industries worldwide. And to do that, Trump is moving to seize rare earths in a new global mineral blitz to outflank Beijing, with new deals from Asia to Australia.
Rare earth metals form the basic materials for much of modern technology and defense systems. Without these elements, production of electric vehicles, iPhones, F-35 fighter jets and even MRI machines would stall.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry launches a Tomahawk cruise missile from the ship’s bow. Barry currently supports Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt.jg Monika Hess/DVDIDS)
In defense they are used for precision guided missiles, radar, jet engines, satellites, drones and night vision systems. For consumers, smartphones, flat screens, hard drives, lasers.
TRUMP, JAPAN SIGN BLOCKBUSTER AGREEMENT ON RARE EARTH MINERALS
Michael Grabinski, two weeks old, is shoved into an MRI machine on August 23, 2010. Dr. David Brumbaugh at Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, during a study on obesity in infants. The overall theme of the study is to understand the continuum of (Rick Wilking/Reuters/Reuters)
They are needed for MRI contrast agents and catalysts in the medical sector and factories. For clean energy, they are needed for electric vehicle engines and wind turbine magnets.
Each EV motor requires approximately 1 kg of neodymium magnets.
Drivers charge their Teslas in Fountain Valley, California, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images/Getty Images)
China currently controls 60 to 70% of rare earth mining and over 85 to 90% of global refining capacity. This gives Beijing enormous leverage over supply chains, especially since rare earth refining involves toxic waste and complex chemistry that many countries outsourced to China decades ago.
But China has threatened and introduced stricter export controls on rare earths and related materials, using them as leverage in trade and geopolitical negotiations.
Because these minerals are so crucial, export controls or bans (such as China’s in 2025) could cripple industries in the US, Japan or Europe.
So what did President Trump and his team do? At least four major deals with Australia, Japan and Southeast Asia. In addition, President Trump is ensuring that the EU and its allies diversify their rare earth supply chains to include Australia, Canada and Southeast Asia.
US President Donald Trump, right, and Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, during a meeting in the White House Cabinet Room in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, October 20, 2025. Trump says the AUKUS pact between the US, Australia and (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Just this month, President Trump signed a deal with Australia and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for critical minerals and rare earths supply chains, committing at least $1 billion each to projects worth about $8.5 billion. He also forged a US-Japan partnership on rare earths with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
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And the president just signed broader trade and critical minerals deals with Southeast Asian countries Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam. In addition, there are new extraction projects in Texas, Canada and Africa. In addition, the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act and the US Defense Production Act fund domestic processing.
