Trump’s $1.6 Billion Mining Investment Shows Yet Another Massive Conflict of Interest
USA Rare Earth is the sixth mining company to receive investment from US government under Trump
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Commerce today signed a deal with mining firm USA Rare Earth Inc., promising the company a $1.3 billion loan, alongside $277 million in proposed federal funding. The investment by the Trump administration is part of a pattern of using taxpayer money to take public ownership of private mining companies. The $1.6 billion investment is the sixth federal investment in mining and minerals processing firms, and is designed to support a rare earths mine southeast of El Paso, Texas.
As part of the deal with Oklahoma-based USA Rare Earth, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., the financial services firm run by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick before he joined the second Trump administration, led financing of the deal, according to the press release by USA Rare Earth. Cantor Fitzgerald is now run by Lutnick’s sons, Brandon and Kyle Lutnick.
In response, Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“In seeking to encourage rare earths mining, the Trump administration is prioritizing speed over corporate accountability and ethical safeguards, departing from due diligence practices and exposing US taxpayers to risky projects that may wind up failing and causing environmental damage.
“There is every reason to suspect ethical and environmental safeguards will not be meaningfully considered in this deal, which has all the trappings of yet another Trump grift and grab. The fact that the deal is brokered by the Wall Street firm formerly run by the Commerce Secretary – and now headed by his sons – is reason to worry that the public interest is being subordinated, yet again, to the profit seeking of Trump cronies.”
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