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US Plans $250 Million Stake in Global Supply Chain Fund
Consortium Under Pax Silica Targets Energy, Critical Minerals Security
Bloomberg News
The U.S. plans to contribute $250 million toward an investment consortium that would help fund projects aimed at strengthening supply chains for energy and critical minerals, according to a Trump administration official.
Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg said March 23 that the U.S. would administer the pool of money and seek as much as $1 trillion in commitments from sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. Other participants would include SoftBank Group Corp., Temasek Holdings and the Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Co. wealth fund, he said.
A top priority for the consortium are investments that focus on preserving access to energy and rare earths for the U.S. and its allies, Helberg said, especially 鈥渕ineral security, logistics and likely energy security infrastructure.鈥 He said the U.S. and the institutional investors will review a list of projects.
鈥淲e鈥檙e starting it as a coalition,鈥 Helberg said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to get together in a room, and we already have a list of projects that we鈥檙e going to review, and we鈥檙e going to talk about making joint investment decisions.鈥
Representatives for Tokyo-based SoftBank, Singapore-based Temasek and Mubadala didn鈥檛 immediately respond to requests for comment on the proposal.
The fund is part of a broader U.S.-led supply chain alliance known as听, which has expanded to include energy infrastructure projects following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. We want to avoid 鈥渟ingle points of failure,鈥 Helberg said, pointing at the ripple effects in energy markets since the start of the war with Iran. Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly will be leading the energy effort, Helberg said.听
The initiative seeks to address growing concerns about the fragility of the global supply chain exposed by the nearly monthlong conflict. Energy infrastructure and key shipping routes around the Gulf region have been targeted during the conflict, disrupting flows of oil, natural gas and critical inputs for global manufacturing.
Pax Silica, an alliance designed to increase global cooperation on supply chains for advanced manufacturing, counts Japan, India, South Korea, the U.K., United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Singapore among its members.
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