White House Mineral Trade Is Anything But Critical: Liam Denning

President Donald Trump’s love for mining has reached the point where he wants to buy the company. Or rather bits of several companies. His administration has recently taken equity stakes in three miners in rapid succession. Ostensibly, the muscular intervention is to counter China’s state-led dominance of critical minerals. But this burgeoning experiment in socialism with Trumpian characteristics is both unnecessary and ultimately counterproductive.

The first of the three to receive government investment, in July, was MP Materials Corp., which runs the only operating rare earths mine in the US. The Pentagon will ultimately own 15% of MP and is also providing a loan, plus guaranteed ...