The Pentagon has launched an unprecedented campaign to purchase critical minerals worth up to $1 billion to bolster the national stockpile and protect the U.S. defense industry from China’s dominance over supply chains, according to the Financial Times.

The key minerals the Pentagon seeks to secure include cobalt, antimony, tantalum, scandium, and other rare minerals amid concerns over Chinese export restrictions affecting the production of weapons, radar systems, and missiles.

This initiative is part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which allocates $7.5 billion to support critical minerals, including $2 billion to strengthen the defense stockpile and $5 billion for supply chain investments.

Industry sources confirmed that U.S. orders are massive and unprecedented, sometimes exceeding annual domestic production and imports, reflecting President Donald Trump’s administration’s determination to shield the United States from any future Chinese pressure on strategic minerals.

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China escalated last week after China expanded its restrictions on rare earth exports, prompting Trump to respond on Friday by imposing a 100% tariff on Chinese exports to the U.S., along with new controls on exporting “any and all critical software” by November 1.

However, Trump said yesterday on the Truth Social platform, “Don’t worry about China, everything will be fine!”

These moves come ahead of a possible meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea, which U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer said could still happen later this month.