It was not by Bolsonaro: Uncle Sam wants to steal critical minerals in Brazil

Brazil has vast reserves of ores such as niobium and rare lands, strategic for sectors such as electric vehicles, wind, semiconductors and defense.

So far much dependent on China to obtain critical minerals, the United States are now keeping an eye on the Brazilian reserves of these elements, fundamental to sectors linked to the energy transition, defense and semiconductor production.

The US business in Brazil, Gabriel Escobar, was meeting on Thursday (24/07) with representatives of the mining sector, including entrepreneurs, members of the government and the Brazilian Mining Institute (IBRAM), to suggest a plan between the two countries to explore these minerals.

Brazil has large reserves of niobium, graffiti, rare lands and nickel, as well as the presence of lithium, copper and cobalt – considered extremely strategic for the direction of the global economy.

The meeting took place days before the entry into force of a 50% rate on Brazilian products announced by the Government of Donald Trump-on the grounds that Brazilian courts would be chasing former President Jair Bolsonaro, defendant for attempt to break the democratic order in the country. The measure should come into force from August 1, and Escobar has kept conversations with the Brazilian government about reprisal.

According to interlocutors, the farm meeting was around the National Policy of Critical and Strategic Minerals, a project in the process that proposes to define which ores are essential to the country’s economic, technological and environmental development.

Participants in the meeting stated that they did not interpret the speeches of the US manager as an attempt to condition a negotiation for a relief from tariffs to access to minerals. However, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva quickly stated that he will not allow foreign interference in how Brazil deals with the exploration of minerals. “No one here puts his hand,” Lula said on Thursday.

In the first half, the US had already pressured Ukraine to sign an agreement for the exploitation of rare land in the country of Eastern Europe, amid threats from the White House to cut its military assistance to the Ukrainians.

Search for new suppliers

Critical minerals are essential inputs for strategic sectors – from electric vehicle battery production to guided missiles – and their limited availability has raised an alert of governments and industries around the world.

The term “critical” is related to the industrial importance of these minerals, as well as the geographical concentration of production, difficulty in technological replacement and long time for new mines and industries.

Currently, China dominates the processing of most critical minerals, although it needs to import much of the raw materials. Amid a fierce commercial dispute, the US has sought to reduce the dependence on this supply. In April, Beijing introduced limits to the export of seven rare lands and magnets made from them, forcing companies around the world to review their processes.

Thus, Brazil emerged as a strategic partner. The country is particularly rich in niobium, with about 98% of international reserves. Other abundant features are rare lands – a group of 17 chemical elements with a small but irreplaceable role in various modern technological products such as smartphones, flat -screen televisions, digital cameras and LEDs.

Rare lands are also widely used in the manufacture of permanent, high power magnets that maintain their magnetic properties for decades. They allow the production of smaller and lighter parts than alternatives not based on rare lands, and are therefore essential in the construction of electric vehicles and wind turbines, for example.

Rare lands are also vital to a large range of defense technologies, submarine hunting aircraft and laser screens.

In addition to Brazil, USA and other countries, such as those of the European Union, have shown interest in unlice sources of these strategic minerals, such as Ukraine and Greenland. Both countries have great potential, but their reserves are in hard -to -reach places – besides the war factor.

The US and Ukraine signed an agreement for the exploration of rare land in the country under Russian occupation. Trump stated that access to these riches was one of the conditions to continue with military aid to Kiev.

Originally published by DW on 07/25/2025