On February 1, Donald Trump announced that he was raising tariffs on Chinese products by 10%. Three days later, China retaliated by cutting its exports to the US of critical metals essential to its defense and industry. On February 10, the new American president went on to make arms deliveries to Ukraine conditional on privileged access to the country’s mineral wealth, again partly in order to bypass China.

The beginning of February alone has illustrated the extent to which Trump’s rise to power is likely to shake up the global strategic metals market, against a backdrop of economic warfare between the world’s two leading powers. “Trump is going to bring a lot of uncertainty to the markets, with, at the same time, a lot of inconsistencies in many of his choices,” said economist Philippe Chalmin, president of commodities think tank Cyclope.

By seeking to get his hands on the subsoil resources of both Ukraine and Greenland, Trump is seeking to secure supplies for American industries and extricate himself from dependence on China. Since the 1980s, the Asian power has been implementing a strategy of conquering critical minerals, which have become indispensable both in the manufacture of military equipment and in the energy transition industries (batteries for electric vehicles, wind turbine motors, photovoltaic panels, etc.).

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