The Trump administration will set price floors across a range of industries to combat market manipulation by China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
China has driven foreign competitors in the rare earths industry out of business over the past two decades by using its global dominance in refining and processing to slash prices, Bessent said.
“When you are facing a non-market economy like China, then you have to exercise industrial policy,” Bessent told Sara Eisen at CNBC’s “Invest in America forum” in Washington, D.C.
“So we’re going to set price floors and the forward buying to make sure that this doesn’t happen again and we’re going to do it across a range of industries,” the Treasury Secretary said.
Rare earths are used to produce magnets that are crucial inputs in U.S. weapons systems like the F-35 war plane and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Rare earth magnets are also essential for civilian commercial applications like electric vehicles.
The Trump administration has been working to stand up a domestic rare earth supply chain. The Department of Defense struck an unprecedented deal in July with MP Materials, the largest U.S. rare earth miner, that included an equity stake, a price floor and offtake agreement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
