PJ The Belt - British Columbia JOINS Trump's USA in MASSIVE DEAL!

00:00:00.000 Canada is a world leader when it comes to critical minerals, and America wants in.

00:00:04.840 Washington has just bought stakes in two B.C.-based critical mineral companies, sending their stocks soaring.

00:00:11.700 The U.S. bought a 10% stake of Trilogy Metals for $35.6 million, and a 5% stake in Vancouver-based Lithium Americas.

00:00:21.420 Ottawa had blocked foreign investments in the Canadian critical mineral sector in the case of China, citing national security concerns.

00:00:28.300 But it's not yet known how any potential American stakes will play out.

00:00:32.540 Well, and this is huge, considering the fact that China just unilaterally decided to block the rest of the world from purchasing or buying any of their critical minerals,

00:00:43.140 which includes, of course, lithium, a mineral that is used for electric cars, batteries, defense implements, and all kinds of stuff like that.

00:00:53.060 Incredibly critical, and they're becoming more and more hostile towards the United States.

00:00:58.300 Which is, they view them as their main adversary, and the United States should be doing the exact same thing.

00:01:04.260 Because the United States' biggest enemy is not Russia, it's not Iran, it's none of these countries, it's China.

00:01:12.780 And they're deliberately trying to undermine the U.S. at every single chance that they get, including with the procurement of critical minerals.

00:01:23.180 And the fact that the U.S. is not moving towards securing those, it's a smart move by the Trump administration.

00:01:30.180 This is Dr. Gracelyn Bascarin, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

00:01:38.180 Welcome to the show.

00:01:39.740 Thank you so much for having me.

00:01:41.400 Now, could you first please walk us through the significance of both of the Canadian mining companies that we mentioned, starting with Lithium Americas.

00:01:48.620 Clearly, it's got to focus on Lithium, but how significant is that to the U.S.?

00:01:53.580 You know, Lithium's not actually as rare as we like to think it is.

00:01:56.220 It tends to exist in a lot of places.

00:01:58.140 But, you know, historically, in recent years, we've gotten the majority of our Lithium from Chile and Argentina.

00:02:04.360 Now, what you see with this administration is a much more targeted effort to build these capabilities onshore.

00:02:10.280 And a portion of this equity, there was a 5% equity done in the Thacker Pass project, which is in Nevada.

00:02:16.580 So, even though we have Lithium here in the longer term, what we really want to see is a French shore, near shore approach to the Lithium supply chain.

00:02:24.860 So, even though we get a lot of our Lithium from Latin America, we get about 65% of our Lithium-ion batteries from China.

00:02:31.740 So, what we want to see here in the United States is getting that Lithium in North America, refining it, and then being able to manufacture our batteries so we loosen that reliance on China.

00:02:43.600 Now, we know that, as you just said, Lithium-ion batteries, that's the primary move for Lithium.

00:02:49.780 Is there anything else that we use Lithium for?

00:02:51.960 A variety of different defense technologies, energy technologies, we see it being used in electric vehicles, in particular, are a huge driver of forecasted Lithium demand.

00:03:04.780 It really is one of those metals that, in a way, is industry agnostic.

00:03:08.940 We need a lot of it, but we kind of take it for granted some days because we don't, it's not as rare, it's not as vulnerable to disruption as some of the other minerals that we hear more about.

00:03:19.060 Well, it's the latest move by the White House to take ownership in the mineral supply chain critical to their interests, but it's the first deal proposed for a Canadian company.

00:03:29.600 Why now?

00:03:30.600 So, let's start with why equity, because we're using equity in a way that is relatively unprecedented and definitely unprecedented in the resources sector.

00:03:39.020 So, you know, in the era of this administration, we heard a lot about Doge and wanting to cut our expenses early on.

00:03:45.680 What this administration is looking at is a more fiscally sustainable model of providing state support.

00:03:53.080 So, we can take the MP materials deal that Doge did, that $400 million of equity that the U.S. government put into MP materials is already worth close to $900 million,

00:04:05.900 which means that the taxpayer money is getting a return, and ideally that money is turned around and reinvested into strategic projects.

00:04:15.060 So, given that equity allows a shareholder return, as opposed to our historical cheap financing or grants, this administration is really holding on to this.

00:04:26.460 And it's not surprising.

00:04:27.780 You have a very strong private sector contingency in this administration.

00:04:32.680 You have a huge financial sector contingency.

00:04:35.200 So, they're wired to think a little bit different than maybe a traditional Washington mentality.

00:04:40.900 Why Canada?

00:04:41.980 That's a great question.

00:04:42.980 You know, obviously, you know, I grew up on the Michigan border.

00:04:46.260 I love Canada.

00:04:47.120 But this administration has taken a little bit of a different, sometimes less friendly approach to Canada.

00:04:52.800 But at the end of the day, there's a couple of things you have to remember.

00:04:55.780 We actually do not have a lot of mining companies here in the United States.

00:04:59.660 A lot of our projects here are actually mined by allied countries.

00:05:04.360 So, Canadian, British, Australian.

00:05:07.280 So, really what we're looking to do is, particularly on a commercial front, you can't rely on American companies alone.

00:05:13.380 It simply won't work.

00:05:14.640 So, we are starting to lean into our allies.

00:05:18.220 You may have seen that the Export-Import Bank recently did its first loan to Australia in resources since 2013.

00:05:24.900 So, we're taking our historical allies and we're deploying our instruments increasingly there, acknowledging that America can't actually do it alone.

00:05:33.480 And that's the thing that a lot of Americans ignore, particularly those who are not paying attention to what's going on in the world,

00:05:39.420 is that for the amount of minerals that the United States, as the most powerful economy in the world, requires,

00:05:49.000 there are simply not enough mines in the United States.

00:05:51.860 Of course, part of that is with the whole exporting and offshoring the mining industry to other countries by the Democrats,

00:06:00.540 under Obama, under Biden, and so on and so forth.

00:06:03.920 A lot of mining towns died off, but it's also that simply there just isn't enough.

00:06:10.840 The demand is so high by the American market that you just can't supply it at home.

00:06:17.480 And these are finite resources.

00:06:19.880 And Canada, like it or not, has some of the most abundant mines and deposits of critical rare earth minerals in the world.

00:06:30.780 And to buy it from China, to continue to empower your literal enemy by buying from them and depending on them for your supply chain would be self-destructive. 0.91

00:06:44.460 It would be suicidal for the United States to continue to do that. 0.63

00:06:47.540 It wouldn't be smart.

00:06:48.920 So, to buy it from China, I'd much rather buy it from Canada.

00:06:53.380 And then there's that whole, you know, 51st state situation where a lot of provinces and a lot of jurisdictions in Canada are wanting to further integrate with the American economy

00:07:04.580 because they understand just the power of not only the American dollar, but the American economy, particularly under a Trump presidency.

00:07:14.280 You got places like Alberta, Saskatchewan, with Alberta having the third largest deposits of oil and gas in the world.

00:07:21.380 And there's Saskatchewan with this potash, the place with the most potash in the entire world.

00:07:26.480 So, the U.S. is looking north for access to those critical minerals.

00:07:32.940 And it's right there.

00:07:33.700 It's just north of the border.

00:07:35.420 And Trump has said it multiple times.

00:07:37.320 You have this imaginary line talking about the 49th parallel.

00:07:41.080 And he's trying to thin that line as much as possible economically and when it comes to the procurement of mining resources.

00:07:50.140 You said that America used to get a lot of their lithium from Chile.

00:07:54.280 Who are they going to be selling to now?

00:07:56.760 That's a great question.

00:07:57.660 And there's a lot of anxiety from emerging markets as to what these deals could actually mean for a long-term industry.

00:08:03.620 At the end of the day, to be honest, China actually has very limited ability to buy all of that.

00:08:08.960 All right.

00:08:09.200 Let's move on to the other company that we mentioned, Trilogy.

00:08:12.000 What's its potential significance for the U.S.?

00:08:14.140 Again, Trilogy is a company that has – it was a bit of an unexpected announcement.

00:08:20.840 And partially because the announcement came during the government shutdown when we're not spending as much money right now.

00:08:27.780 But, again, it's a project that is really crucial to our supply chain security.

00:08:31.620 And some of these companies, there's not a lot of alternatives.

00:08:34.620 Remember, one of the big things about this administration is they are looking for projects that are basically shovel-ready or as close to shovel-ready as possible.

00:08:43.520 MP Materials, one, because they are the only large-scale producer of rare earths.

00:08:48.000 Lithium Americas is doing pretty well with that backer past project.

00:08:51.500 And it looks very – it's commercially viable because they already have equity from a company like GM.

00:08:56.000 So, for Trilogy, a lot of the outward-looking in thought is kind of continuing that same trend.

00:09:03.300 But there's a lot more that we – to be honest, that we're going to need to learn about that deal in coming days.

00:09:08.100 Well, I think everyone who's following these deals is going to learn a lot about some rare earth minerals, critical minerals that they had never heard of before.

00:09:15.220 The one I want to learn about from you is germanium.

00:09:18.940 Apparently, this deal is very significant in relation to germanium.

00:09:21.600 So, the question is, how so, how is germanium used, and what is germanium?

00:09:28.260 Great question.

00:09:29.340 I mean, I don't know about you, but I wish some days that I paid more attention to the periodic table in 10th grade because I think about it every day now.

00:09:36.660 So, germanium is an interesting one because it was actually one of the first commodities that China banned exports to the United States.

00:09:43.020 This was in the summer of 2023.

00:09:44.900 And it really started the weaponization of resources that we've now come to become quite familiar up.

00:09:51.380 Germanium is absolutely crucial to semiconductors, and it's really hard to make a semiconductor without germanium.

00:09:57.860 Now, you don't generally don't dig germanium out of the ground.

00:10:01.700 What you do is you actually get it as a byproduct of refining other commodities.

00:10:05.640 So, in particular, when I refine zinc, I can get my germanium out of that.

00:10:11.420 This is why, historically, Canada has been a really important player here is because even our zinc in the United States, we actually send to British Columbia for refining, and then that germanium has historically come back.

00:10:24.760 Obviously, you know, one of the difficulties we have in America, because it would be like, well, why don't we build one here, if we're in America first mentality, is that it is not economic.

00:10:36.200 You know, I always say if minerals were all the bang and rage that we say, why are we struggling to get capital moving?

00:10:42.940 And a lot of that is because the economics of it aren't great.

00:10:46.500 And part of that is because China has produced more and more and more.

00:10:49.440 So, you have a lot of supply, and then demand is not keeping up with that.

00:10:53.440 So, you have – that's the perfect economic equation for low prices.

00:10:57.400 When it comes to zinc and being able to get that germanium out of it, zinc refining charges are pretty much negative right now.

00:11:04.140 So, you lose money in that process.

00:11:06.960 So, no company in the United States – and we've looked, right – is racing to say, well, I'm going to build a 75-year-long smelter because I'd like to operate cash negative.

00:11:17.360 So, really, you know, Canada has been a very important ally, whether we feel it or not right now, in that that germanium is really crucial for our semiconductor manufacturing industry.

00:11:29.680 What concerns are you hearing over both these deals, if any?

00:11:35.500 So, the big one is this is a very different way of doing business, right?

00:11:39.280 And a lot of these are coming top-down, very high-level announcements.

00:11:43.480 They're not necessarily being done competitively, so you're not seeing competitive tenders.

00:11:48.720 For some of them, the authorities are a little bit opaque.

00:11:53.060 MP materials, in my opinion, a great deal.

00:11:55.940 But the Department of Defense authority to do it was a little bit opaque.

00:12:01.080 So, again, you know, in a capitalist society, in an ideal world, it would be a public competitive tender.

00:12:06.840 There would be a process for selecting these.

00:12:09.280 Projects.

00:12:09.960 And you're not necessarily seeing that.

00:12:12.160 So, there is a, like, I think there's an understanding that some of these tools are important, especially because they are nascent markets and nascent industries.

00:12:20.240 However, you know, what is the authority and is this being done transparently?

00:12:26.440 And, you know, to be candid, as much as I'm supportive of the public-private cooperation, it's not always transparent.

00:12:32.480 Yeah.

00:12:33.280 Do you see these potential deals as the beginning of something new, as the tip of the iceberg?

00:12:39.280 Yes, absolutely.

00:12:40.480 And I think there's two ways to look at that.

00:12:42.260 So, the one is we're seeing just equity as a growing tool here in the United States.

00:12:46.940 And, again, it's creating an ex-China market, right? 0.92

00:12:50.340 You're starting to see companies like Apple and GM prefer to sign off-take agreements with these companies because they don't want disruptions from China.

00:12:58.760 And that's kind of the model that we want to see is that eventually the price will come up because there's enough off-take from allied companies.

00:13:06.340 So, that's one.

00:13:07.300 The second thing is we have something called the Development Finance Corporation.

00:13:10.280 And, historically, it was kind of like a development finance institution limited to being able to fund things in lower- and middle-income countries.

00:13:18.440 We in the United States created that in 2018 under President Trump's first administration.

00:13:23.700 It was given a seven-year mandate, which means it's actually up for reauthorization this year.

00:13:29.480 And DFC is really important to this administration.

00:13:32.180 And one of the limits to that was that the way that the government could take equity in projects abroad, it wasn't scored efficiently, which created a disincentive to put it onto your balance sheet.

00:13:44.060 Very likely, you're going to see DFC be able to take equity in more projects abroad.

00:13:49.220 So, what you end up ultimately seeing is more equity both at home, in North America, but also abroad.

00:13:55.680 And when you take that in conclusion, again, you're seeing a much more active state in a sector that historically has not seen a lot of state intervention in the last 40 years.

00:14:05.440 You know, and that all goes back to the whole Trump trying to squeeze China out of the markets because he understands as much as he says,

00:14:13.860 you know what, I have a decent relationship with President Xi, and he might.

00:14:17.400 Trump is a personality guy, right?

00:14:19.820 He's friends with a lot of people that he might also be adversaries with.

00:14:24.480 A perfect example is Putin.

00:14:26.820 He's actually friendly with Putin on a personal level overall, but he understands like, dude, you know, you got to get your act together.

00:14:34.380 We got to end this war, this and that.

00:14:35.920 And, you know, he's able to separate on a personal level versus I know you're my adversary, and I know that you're working to undermine my economy and my country.

00:14:45.620 And that's the whole thing with China, right? 0.97

00:14:47.680 China coming out and deciding that they're not going to be selling critical minerals to particularly the United States being their main target.

00:14:55.980 But they also said other countries all over the world just to save face and say, oh, we're not just targeting the United States.

00:15:03.240 And that's why Trump put 100% additional, 100% additional punishing tariffs on China because Trump, of course, he's not just going to sit there and let them do what they're doing.

00:15:12.780 And this is an effort by the United States and by the Trump administration to become as independent from China as possible, but also to push them out of the market.

00:15:25.060 The world became very dependent, a little too dependent on Chinese manufacturing and Chinese supply of raw materials when it came to semiconductors.

00:15:37.140 And semiconductors are huge.

00:15:39.360 They're on everything.

00:15:40.040 They're in your fridge, they're in your TV, they're on your smartphone, they're in your smartphones, they're in vehicles now, they're in everything.

00:15:48.020 And if China controls those, then you're giving them a power that you don't want them to have.

00:15:53.920 So this is yet another move by the Trump administration to create a more powerful, more self-reliant North America,

00:16:03.520 using Canada as the supplier of those resources that they're no longer going to be getting from China.

00:16:09.460 Canadians can be forgiven if they've got a little bit of whiplash in relation to our relationship with the Americans. 0.59

00:16:15.520 In your opinion, should Canada be welcoming or wary of these Washington deals?

00:16:20.760 So anytime you have commercial engagements, I think it's a stronger argument for better diplomatic relations.

00:16:29.960 And, you know, I think that it is generally quite positive that the U.S. government is backing Canadian companies.

00:16:36.780 And my hope sincerely is that this is a start of a more productive relationship between the two countries, especially because in essence, the U.S. government part owns Canadian companies right now.

00:16:47.940 So really, this should be the foundation of a much better relationship going forward.

00:16:53.100 And in an ideal world, a much stronger minerals diplomacy relationship.

00:16:59.100 And this has a lot of positive spinoffs.

00:17:01.420 You know, sometimes we kind of get into the like, great, we're going to rely on dirt and rocks.

00:17:05.240 But with that comes processing, the expansion of energy infrastructure, manufacturing capabilities.

00:17:11.960 You know, we talked about lithium ion batteries at the beginning.

00:17:14.880 We want to manufacture more of those here, right?

00:17:17.320 So it has a lot of positive economic spinoff benefit.

00:17:21.080 So my hope is that this is just the start of a better relationship.

00:17:24.100 This announcement is huge.

00:17:25.500 And it goes back to, like I said before, in many videos, the further integration of the North American economy to become as self-reliant as possible, to just push out China, push out the European Union, even though Canada is trying to, we got to get closer.

00:17:44.420 We're the most European, non-European country with Mark Carney.

00:17:47.800 But those are words.

00:17:50.300 What are the actions?

00:17:51.800 The United States is investing in Canadian critical mineral companies.

00:17:56.680 Hey, if you've made it this far, thank you so much for watching.

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00:18:09.320 A heartfelt thank you to all our channel members.

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00:18:13.020 See you all in the next one.

00:18:15.020 Peace.

00:18:43.020 Peace.

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00:18:47.740 Peace.

00:19:00.700 Peace.

00:19:00.740 Peace.

00:19:00.920 Peace.

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00:19:01.680 Peace.

00:19:01.780 Peace.

00:19:01.840 Peace.

00:19:01.880 Peace.

00:19:01.940 Peace.

PJ The Belt - October 14, 2025

British Columbia JOINS Trump's USA in MASSIVE DEAL!

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