US EXIM to invest $100 billion to secure critical mineral supplies: Report

The U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) will invest $100 billion to secure U.S. and allied supply chains for critical minerals, nuclear energy and liquefied natural gas, the organisation's chair John Jovanovic told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday. 

The first tranche of deals will include projects in Egypt, Pakistan and Europe, Jovanovic told the newspaper, adding that the West was over-reliant on supplies of these critical materials that "are no longer fair". 

"We can't do anything else that we're trying to do without these underlying critical raw material supply chains being secure, stable and functioning," he was quoted saying. 

Congress had approved $135 bn for EXIM to deploy  Jovanovic told the FT that the bank's early deals would include a credit insurance guarantee for $4 billion of natural gas being delivered to Egypt by New York-based commodities group Hartree Partners, and a $1.25 billion loan for the Reko Diq mine being developed by Barrick Mining in Pakistan. 

The bank has $100 billion left to deploy of the $135 billion authorized by Congress, he said. 

EXIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. 

The investment aligns with US President Donald Trump's energy-dominance agenda. 

Trump had campaigned on a promise to increase US energy output and has sought to roll back energy and environmental regulations since taking office in January.