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Vice President JD Vance: The Optimal Choice for Critical Minerals Czar?

Vice President JD Vance: The Optimal Choice for Critical Minerals Czar?
U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a plenary session at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris on Feb. 11, 2025. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
Pini Althaus
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Commentary

As the U.S. competes for essential tech metals, calls for establishing a “critical minerals czar” (or special envoy or task force) are plentiful and palpable, and this should be a priority of the Trump administration. We need someone with the requisite authority to coordinate the full apparatus of the U.S. government to secure lithium, cobalt, tungsten, and dozens of critical and rare earth elements at home and abroad.

Pini Althaus
Pini Althaus
Author
Pini Althaus has been an executive officer in the mining & resource sector since 2002. He has successfully identified and acquired several significant mining projects in the United States, Canada, Australia, China, and Latin America. His responsibilities in the resource sector have included not only the executive duties, also the operational duties, fund-raising, liaising with Government officials, shareholder relations and investor relations/public relations roles. He has also served as a consultant to the United Nations on critical minerals supply chains in the Arab Region.