Trump and MBS unveil U.S.-Saudi ventures on rare earth minerals and nuclear energy

Amna Nawaz:

President Trump and Mohammed bin Salman concluded the Saudi crown prince's visit to the U.S. today by speaking to more than 400 business leaders.

Beyond a defense agreement and talk of the kingdom's human rights record, the visit focused on joint U.S.-Saudi adventures, including extracting Saudi minerals critical to everything from fighter jets to cell phones, and helping Saudi Arabia build a civilian nuclear program.

Nick Schifrin is here to discuss that now.

So, Nick, let's begin with that deal over rare earth minerals. Why is that so important?

Nick Schifrin:

You just said it, Amna.

These rare earth minerals and magnets that are produced by them go into everything, from electric vehicles to the world's most advanced fighter jet, the F-35. And Saudi Arabia says that it has the fourth most valuable deposit of rare earth in the world.

But, right now, China has a near monopoly on what are known as heavy rare earths. They do 90 percent of the processing, and China produces 93 percent of all those earth magnets that are required for high-end manufacturing.

So the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have agreed that an American company, MP Materials, whose biggest shareholder right now is the U.S. government, in fact, will own just about half of a rare earth refinery in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. and Saudi will mine and process the rare earths, and then that will go to the U.S., Saudi, and its allies in order to produce those magnets.

In the long run, the idea here is to reduce U.S., reduce Western reliance on China, because we saw China withhold some of those rare earth magnets in the conversations with President Trump this year. It also taps into something that Saudi officials say, that they are looking for the next big oil giant, like Aramco, and that it might be there in rare earths.

So take a listen to Gracelin Baskaran of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Gracelin Baskaran, Center for Strategic and International Studies: Saudi Arabia is absolutely emerging as one of the biggest mineral superpowers. What we see here is actually one of the biggest heavy rare earth deposits in the world. And given that Saudi did have Aramco, it has a lot of the infrastructure needed to become a minerals production and processing superpower.

And, again, remember that the U.S.-Saudi relationship was built on natural resources. It was the oil for security agreement. So what we see of that is just the next era of that, going from oil to mineral.

Nick Schifrin:

Of course, the Trump administration has focused on rare earth minerals well beyond Saudi Arabia. It has made deals with Japan and Australia. There's a huge push to compete with China.

But, Amna, one study says that, even though the West is trying to make these strides on rare earth minerals, the West will still rely on China for 90 percent of heavy rare earths past 2030.

Amna Nawaz:

Ninety percent.

Meanwhile, there's another agreement on nuclear power technology. What has the U.S. agreed to there?

Nick Schifrin:

So, the secretary of energy, Chris Wright, announced this today. He had a signing ceremony with his counterpart and said that two countries have completed negotiations on civil nuclear cooperation.

And on FOX News, Wright described this deal exclusively as helping Saudi Arabia diversify its energy products, its energy sources by building a nuclear power plant.

Chris Wright, U.S. Energy Secretary:

This is just for civil nuclear construction of a power plant, American technology, American companies to build a very large nuclear power plant in Saudi Arabia. It's not about enrichment. It's not about anything related to weapons. It's just about generating electricity, secure, reliable, affordable electricity.

Nick Schifrin:

So you heard Wright say that it's not about enrichment, it's not about weapons.

But the negotiations that have led to this have very much been about enrichment, about Saudi Arabia's desire to make nuclear fuel perhaps inside Saudi Arabia. Saudi officials say that they have 7 percent of the world's uranium and in fact it's colocated with all those rare earths that we were just talking about, and that asking the kingdom to mine uranium in addition to those rare earths would kind of — without enriching, without creating the nuclear fuel, would be kind of like asking Saudi Arabia to get all of the oil out of the sand many years ago without refining the oil.

That's the kind of deal that they're trying to get. But the community that's been focused on nonproliferation has had their concerns about Saudi Arabia. They have been concerned that Saudi Arabia has resisted some of the monitoring and inspections that would go along with this kind of agreement. And, frankly, they have been concerned about Saudi intentions all along.

So take a listen to Henry Sokolski with the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.

Henry Sokolski, Executive Director, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center:

They want a bomb option. I think they have been very clear privately to various contractors that I have been in contact over the years that that's the bottom line. I think that's the reason they have been insistent about getting enrichment, when it doesn't make economic or practical sense.

Nick Schifrin:

Saudi officials insist they are not after a bomb and actually trust in U.S. nuclear umbrella, they don't want their own nuclear weapon.

Nonetheless, Energy Secretary Wright said that today's deal has what he called — quote — "bilateral safeguard agreements." He hasn't spelled that out. One solution here, Amna, that I'm told is that American companies could do the enrichment inside the United States, and Saudi Arabia thinks that might be more economically viable than doing the enrichment in Saudi Arabia.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, interestingly, we heard President Trump say that the crown prince had actually pushed him on the issue of Sudan during this visit. What do we know about what was behind that crown prince's message?

Nick Schifrin:

So, Sudan has been driven by horrific violence for many years, but there's been an explosion of violence especially just in the last few weeks.

Here is some of it. We're blurring it, it's so horrific. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, has been committing what the U.S. has labeled as genocide against non-Arabs in El Fasher in North Darfur. Thousands perhaps, tens of thousands are feared dead.

Beyond the humanitarian issues, Amna, Saudi Arabia has been very concerned that Sudan could spread, that instability in Sudan could invite terrorism into the region. And MBS pushed President Trump to confront this crisis, as Trump himself said today.

President Donald Trump:

His Majesty would like me to do something very powerful having to do with Sudan. It was not on my charts to be involved in that. I thought it was just something that was crazy and out of control. But I just see how important that is to you and to a lot of your friends in the room, Sudan. And we're going to start working on Sudan.

Nick Schifrin:

Saudi Arabia wants to see President Trump impose secondary sanctions on the United Arab Emirates, one of the RSF's most important external factors, and the RSF itself be labeled a foreign terrorist organization.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, Nick Schifrin, thanks, as always.

Nick Schifrin:

Thank you.