As the foundations of the U.S. economy and future growth are increasingly built around digital assets, the Trump administration wants to remind Americans that commodities they can see and touch are still very much in play. Past presidents have tried to steer markets away from speculative behavior by focusing on the fundamentals of the world’s most widely traded physical good: oil. But for Trump and his officials, there is another tangible commodity that has simply become too important to ignore.
“There is no realer thing than oil—and I would add to that there’s no realer thing than critical minerals,” Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday.
