$5 Billion US Minerals Fund Could Reshape Global Supply Chains
Washington eyes $5 billion minerals fund to counter China’s dominance and secure America’s industrial future.

The United States is quietly preparing one of its most significant interventions in global commodity markets in decades. Washington is in talks with Orion Resource Partners, a New York–based private equity firm, to establish a $5 billion fund for critical mineral projects. If the deal comes together, it will mark the clearest signal yet that the U.S. government is no longer content to leave the world’s mining sector to foreign rivals, particularly China.
The proposed fund would be run as a joint venture between the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. (DFC) and Orion, each providing $2.5 billion. The scale would be unprecedented for the DFC, whose mandate has grown rapidly since its creation under Donald Trump’s first term. For the White House, the aim is simple: to secure access to essential metals such as copper, cobalt, and rare earths, which power everything from electric vehicles and clean energy to advanced defense systems.
At the heart of this effort lies growing anxiety about China’s dominance. Beijing controls much of the world’s refining capacity and has aggressively acquired mining assets across Africa, Latin America, and beyond. The U.S., by contrast, has been slower to mobilize its financial firepower. The fund with Orion would be an attempt to catch up, matching Chinese state-backed investment with American capital and know-how. It reflects a wider recognition that access to minerals is no longer just a commercial question, but a matter of national security.
