Tech giant Apple is backing President Donald Trump in a push for rare earth minerals, and is expected to announce a $500 million investment in the only rare earth mine currently operating in the United States.
Apple plans to invest $500 million in the Las Vegas-based rare earth mining company, MP Materials, multiple sources familiar with the deal told FOX Business.
The White House, meanwhile, is calling the deal a “major win” for the Trump administration.
“This is a huge win for the president, who has the foresight to make this issue a priority,” a senior White House official told Fox News. “Apple deserves a lot of credit for stepping up. It’s good for the country, good for American workers, and it’ll prove to be good business, too.”
“Other companies should take notice,” the White House official added.
The deal also includes building a new recycling facility in Mountain Pass, California, which will reportedly reprocess materials from used electronics to be used in future Apple products.
Moreover, Apple and MP Materials plan to build another facility in Fort Worth, Texas, to create magnets that will be used in the tech giant’s products, as well as other electronics around the world, sources told Fox News. Apple has previously announced significant expansions to its manufacturing presence in Texas.
The deal, which includes Apple’s commitment to buy American-made rare earth magnets from MP Materials’ Texas factory, comes days after the U.S. Department of Defense announced it is also taking a $400 million stake in the mining company.
MP Materials reportedly called the U.S. government’s investment a “transformational public-private partnership,” adding that the venture has launched an effort to “accelerate the build-out of an end-to-end U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain and reduce foreign dependency.”
Notably, the partnership between Apple and MP Materials also comes after President Trump struck a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to restart the trading of critical minerals after stopping shipments earlier this year following tariffs on China and other nations.
Currently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) produces around 60 percent of the world’s critical mineral supply and processes up to 90 percent — but President Trump has made rare earth mining and boosting domestic supply chains part of his national security agenda.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
