Donald Trump's administration is promoting a global strategy to guarantee key supplies for defense, industry, and national security
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The United States is leading a global summit on Tuesday on critical minerals with the goal of containing China's influence in a strategic market for defense, technology, and international trade. The meeting is part of a sustained political decision by Donald Trump's administration, which seeks to reduce dependence on inputs controlled by Beijing and to strengthen U.S. national security.
The summit was convened by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and is a direct consequence of executive orders signed by Trump and of official documents that redefined the United States' National Security Strategy and Defense Doctrine.
A political message at the highest level
The forum will be opened by Vice President JD Vance and closed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, while Rubio will give a press conference to outline the White House's next steps on critical minerals.
The joint presence of Vance, Rubio, and Bessent on the same stage reflects the strategic importance that Trump assigns to the issue, something that is unusual even in high-level multilateral summits.
Estados Unidos lidera una cumbre global para asegurar minerales críticos y frenar el dominio de China
The Trump Corollary and Latin America's strategic priority
Toward the end of 2025, the Republican administration published its National Security Strategy, where the so-called Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was established, a geopolitical concept that aims to limit the influence of extraterritorial actors — especially China — in Latin America.
That approach was reinforced by the new United States Defense Doctrine, which prioritizes the region and establishes deterrence mechanisms against China's advance, particularly in sensitive sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and strategic minerals.
Estados Unidos lidera una cumbre global para asegurar minerales críticos y frenar el dominio de China
Critical minerals: the foundation of modern security
Without control over the critical minerals market, these strategic guidelines would be empty. Under that assessment, the Department of Commerce published a key report titled "A Federal Strategy to Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals," with 61 recommendations and 24 future objectives.
Subsequently, the United States Geological Survey drew up a list of 60 critical minerals, many of them concentrated in Latin America, which turned the region into a central axis of Washington's foreign and security policy.
Estados Unidos lidera una cumbre global para asegurar minerales críticos y frenar el dominio de China
An investigation carried out under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act concluded that the lack of rare earth processing capacity in the United States directly threatens national security, enabling the use of tariffs, subsidies, and industrial protection policies.
Trump's executive order and global cooperation
At the beginning of 2026, Trump signed the executive order "Adjustment of Imports of Processed Critical Minerals and Their Derivative Products", which establishes a new framework to protect the U.S. supply chain.
The text promotes international cooperation with allied countries and acknowledges that the United States is totally dependent on imports of at least 12 critical minerals, many of which are currently under China's direct control or influence.
Project Vault: a strategic reserve for the future
To complete the framework, Trump announced 48 hours ago the creation of a strategic reserve of critical minerals, called Project Vault. The program will combine 1.7 billion dollars in private financing with a 10 billion dollar loan from EXIM Bank.
"This is being done to ensure that U.S. companies and workers are never harmed by any shortage", Trump stated when he signed the initiative in the Oval Office.
A global alliance to stop Beijing
During the summit in Washington, Trump's administration will seek to agree on a common roadmap with allied countries to contain China's hegemonic influence in the production of and access to critical minerals.
The participating countries include Argentina, Bolivia, India, Paraguay, and Italy, and a framework agreement is expected to be signed that will limit Beijing's ability to monopolize these strategic inputs.
Estados Unidos lidera una cumbre global para asegurar minerales críticos y frenar el dominio de China
Why critical minerals define global power
Critical minerals are essential for manufacturing airplanes, submarines, helicopters, vehicles, chips, semiconductors, satellites, missiles, turbines, power plants, weapons, and civilian and military technology.
In this context, the summit led by the United States consolidates Trump's strategic vision, which holds that 21st-century security is not defined only in the military sphere, but also in the control of global supply chains.
