Former President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to open new sites and roll back environmental protections to boost mining of rare earth elements if he retakes the White House.
“Remember the rare earth, where we have to go to China?” Trump asked during remarks Thursday to the Economic Club of New York.
“We have sites that are phenomenal, they have everything you want in terms of rare earths, and we can’t use them because of environmental protection,” Trump said. “But we’re going to end that very quickly, as soon as I get into office.”
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Despite Trump’s vow and his efforts to bolster rare earth elements through an executive order in 2020, no new rare earth mines opened during his term. Several ventures have been in development for years.
