The Trump administration’s decision to create a national stockpile of critical minerals is long overdue and strategically essential. Critical minerals underpin the modern economy and are at the center of America’s competition with China. Washington must safeguard its supply of strategic minerals and prevent Beijing from gaining a stranglehold on them.

On Feb. 2, the White House announced “Project Vault,” a $12 billion effort to build a national reserve of critical minerals such as cobalt and gallium. About $1.7 billion will come from private seed funding, with the remainder backed by the United States government’s Export-Import Bank.