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IRA, which was introduced in 2022, had provided much needed financial support for electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers to set up shop and begin the construction of a non-China-reliant supply chain.
An estimated $43 billion of cell manufacturing, cathode active material (CAM) and precursor cathode active material (pCAM) capacity has been cancelled, paused or formally delayed in Canada and the US since President Trump’s second inauguration on January 20, 2025 according to Fastmarkets estimates.
In ripping up the legislation and Trump’s vocal opposition to EVs, many stakeholders in the energy transition said they believed the US had stepped back and handed the EV keys to China.
But news this week that the US will take a leaf out of China’s playbook has once again promised to alter future supply chain pathways and trade routes, with Trump taking a different route for resource security. Many cobalt market participants described the news as a “fundamental change” to the future of cobalt.
First, the US announced Project Vault, a new $12 billion critical mineral stockpile entirely separate from its existing defense strategic stockpiles, to directly support US manufacturers.
Secondly, and hours after the US Export-Import Bank board voted to confirm the stockpile budget, US government-backed investment group Orion CMC announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Switzerland-headquartered global mining giant Glencore.
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The MoU entails Orion CMC taking a 40% stake in Glencore’s two copper and cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“The Orion deal is supply security for the US given every other major cobalt producer in the DRC is Chinese, except for ERG,” one trader said, referring to Eurasian Resources Group, a Kazakh-owned operation.
Critically, according to Glencore’s announcement, Orion will “direct the sale of the relevant share of production from the assets to nominated buyers, in accordance with the US-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement, thereby securing critical minerals for the United States and its partners.”
Yet the announcements have raised questions in the cobalt market about timings and implementation. Market participants say the immediate impact on the spot market may be muted, due to limited US cobalt refining capacity and DRC export quotas restricting shipments to less than half of 2024 levels through to the end of 2027.
They said, however, fundamentals would no doubt shift if the deal is agreed later this year.
With China accounting for 80% of cobalt refining in 2024, according to Fastmarkets estimates, it seems likely that hydroxide will continue to flow to China from Orion CMC’s stake. But with the US currently imposing a 35% tariff on imports of Chinese cobalt metal, exemptions could be required to solve purchasing requirement headaches.
“It’s a clear statement of intent by the US and it is massive for the market. There are a lot of questions about how much of the $12 billion will be allocated to cobalt, what form of cobalt will they buy etc.,” said a second trader.
A third trader shared a similar view: “It’s a big [announcement] and it has fundamentally changed the landscape longer term now. If the MoU goes through, then it’s a big character change for the cobalt market, unusual though as Glencore’s mantra is to dominate a market.”
But some sources questioned the viability of the $12 billion stockpile, arguing it would be an easy budget target for cancellation should the US administration change in 2028.
“Similar to the IRA legislation, which was passed and people got to work only for it to be torn up two years later, what is to stop this budget getting cancelled if the administration changes sides again?” a market participant said.
Some of the planned EV supply chain construction that was affected by the IRA funding removal has been converted to facilities for other products. One example is the Kentucky facility Ford inherited from its dissolved joint venture (JV) with SK On, which is now going to be used for energy storage systems (ESS) cell and pack production.
The end-of-decade timeline coincides with the scheduled completion of the Lobito Corridor railway system, which links the DRC and Zambia’s copper belt with the Atlantic coast of Africa and is positioned to export volumes to the US. This would provide an alternative to current routes through Tanzania and South Africa, which primarily serve the Chinese market.
Under the announced structure, participating manufacturers will commit to purchasing materials at specified prices and pay upfront fees to submit “shopping lists” of required materials.
The project does aim to purchase “shelf-ready” materials that manufacturers can use immediately in product lines.
US Vice President JD Vance said at the Critical Minerals Ministerial on Wednesday that the US will establish “reference prices” for minerals at every stage of production, with these prices intended to reflect “fair market value” rather than prices artificially depressed by foreign overproduction.
Adjustable tariffs will be used to counteract any material flowing into the market below the established price floor, Vance said, with the primary goal of making prices predictable and less erratic, providing the long-term certainty required to invest in new mining and processing facilities.
In reaction to the news, market participants in Europe raised concerns about where the rush to secure critical resources leaves Europe, given the trade bloc’s aggressive decarbonization deadlines.
“The DRC government has courted the US, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, but so far, no engagement with Europe at all. We could get left behind,” said one European consumer.
The US and the DRC signed a strategic partnership in December 2025, seeking to ensure the protection and resilience of its mineral supply chains in support of mutual economic and strategic interests with the US.
“These announcements leave the EU fighting over scraps really and shows how complacent they have been,” said a fourth trader.
The strategic announcements were met with surprise in Brussels. European officials contacted for this story declined to comment, saying they were still assessing the implications of the US moves, while market participants awaited a response from the European Commission and expressed hopes for a similar stockpiling incentive to support critical minerals prices.
The European Court of Auditors said on Monday that the EU’s 2030 climate goals are at risk of being missed due to supply bottlenecks of critical resources.
After this week, the US looks to be executing a multi-year plan to pivot cobalt supply chains for when DRC export restrictions ease, and processing capacity and new transportation infrastructure come online.
Market participants have said the question is not whether Project Vault will buy cobalt, it’s whether the US will be able to access the right infrastructure in time to fundamentally shift global cobalt flows away from China.
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