Voyageur 33
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Canada Heads to Washington for Trump’s Critical Minerals Summit
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is in Washington today for a U.S.-led meeting on critical minerals - and Canada has a strong hand to play. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hosting representatives from more than 50 countries as the Trump administration tries to break China’s grip on rare earth elements, which are essential for everything from EVs to fighter jets.
The meeting follows Trump’s announcement of “Project Vault,” a $12-billion strategic reserve funded by the Export-Import Bank and private capital. China controls roughly 70% of the world’s rare earths mining and 90% of processing, and Beijing has been restricting exports in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs.
Canada sits on some of the world’s largest untapped critical mineral deposits, and Ottawa and the U.S. Department of Defense already have a co-investment deal to accelerate Canadian mining. With the mandatory CUSMA review coming later this year, minerals are one of Canada’s best cards. Whether Anand can turn that leverage into something concrete - or whether it gets swallowed by the broader tariff fight - is the story to watch.
Read more: The Canadian Press
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Conservative MP Uses Vance Friendship to Freelance in Washington
Conservative MP Jamil Jivani is spending this week in Washington, meeting with auto industry executives and attending the National Prayer Breakfast - after the Liberal government ignored his repeated offers to help on the trade file. Jivani has a unique asset: he’s a longtime friend of U.S. Vice-President JD Vance from their Yale Law School days.
He shared four emails with CBC, dated December 14 to February 2, in which he asked PM Carney and Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc to consider how he might contribute. LeBlanc’s staff acknowledged the emails but never set up a meeting. So Jivani went anyway. He’s meeting with General Motors reps and other manufacturing contacts, as well as reaching out to political connections throughout the week.
It’s a weird moment in Canadian politics when an opposition MP has a better personal line to the White House than the government appears to have. Whether that’s an opportunity being wasted or a partisan headache being avoided depends on who you ask - but with CUSMA (Voyageur 29) hanging by a thread, the answer might matter.
Read more: CBC News