In her 2023 movie Barbie, Greta Gerwig showed how even a world that looks perfect on the surface can fracture when its foundations are exposed. The same truth applies to global supply chains. For all the optimism about energy transition and allied resilience, the uncomfortable reality is that without secure access to critical minerals, the system will buckle. The United States has just shifted its approach, and Australia must decide whether to move with equal urgency or risk being sidelined. The US Department of Defense’s US$400 million investment in rare-earth producer MP Materials marks a watershed. This isn’t another small grant or research-and-development program; it’s an equity stake, a guaranteed offtake and a floor price commitment all rolled into one. Washington has gone from supporting possibilities to underwriting certainty. For decades, its interventions were scattered, with modest sums spread too thin to matter. That era has ended. The US is now signalling that when minerals are essential to national security, it will put real money and long-term guarantees on the table.
US rare-earth investment an opportunity for northern Australia | The Strategist
