The United States is beginning to show clear signs that it wants to expand its role in Latin America’s mining sector, counterbalancing years of strong Chinese presence in the region.
Amid the race between the world’s two largest economies, Latin American mining is gaining increasing importance due to the high volumes of reserves of the so‑called critical minerals.
“Latin America has emerged as a strategic link in the global race for critical minerals, with copper, lithium and rare earths playing central roles,” said Rebecca Campbell and Fernando J. de la Hoz, mining and metals sector specialists at global law firm White & Case in a recent report.
The experts cited two recent deals that highlight this trend.
One of them involves a US$100 million (mn) loan for a US$2.5 billion (bn) lithium project in Argentina, granted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a multilateral institution in which the United States has significant voting power.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) injected US$465mn to expand the operations of Serra Verde in the state of Goiás.
The current scenario points to a rebalancing of forces in Latin American mining.
Since the mid-2000s, China has gained major prominence in Latin American mining, driven by the strong demand of the Asian giant for commodities from the region. This movement has made the country the main trading partner for a large part of Latin American economies and has also led it to invest directly in mining projects.
Meanwhile, the United States has shown greater interest in the region, especially since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s administration in January 2025. In addition to seeking to contain China’s advance in Latin America, Washington is also trying to secure access to critical minerals.
This scenario has become evident for mining companies, and one of the segments that most reflects this dispute between the United States and China in the region is rare earths.
Currently, China holds the largest volume of reserves in the world and also leads the production of these minerals. On some recent occasions, the country has signaled the possibility of restricting exports to counterbalance tariff threats from the United States.
This highlighted Washington’s sense of urgency in light of its strong dependence on China for rare earths and led the U.S. government to begin supporting projects through multilateral organizations.
“Today, China produces approximately 90% of the world’s magnets, which are essential components of electric motors used in everything from electric vehicles to robotics, wind turbines, data centers and consumer electronics. This creates a vulnerability in the supply chain,” Stuart Gale, CEO of Meteoric Resources, told BNamericas. The company is developing the Caldeira rare earths project in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
The political rapprochement between some countries in the region has also favored the growing North American protagonism.
Recently, the Argentine government signed a cooperation agreement related to critical minerals with the United States.
“The agreement provides for the use of public and private financing tools, the simplification of administrative licensing processes and cooperation in areas such as geological mapping, recycling and management of critical materials. It also includes joint actions aimed at promoting more transparent markets and strengthening Argentina’s participation and positioning as a relevant player in global supply chains of high strategic value,” said the Argentine government in a statement released in February.
“For Argentina, this instrument represents an opportunity for economic and productive growth. In 2025, thanks to the incentives and conditions established by the RIGI (Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones), mineral exports reached a record US$6.037bn, which represented an annual growth of nearly 30%, while lithium carbonate production exceeded 110 thousand tons, the highest level ever recorded in the country’s history. These results position mining – especially critical minerals such as lithium and copper – as a key sector for increasing exports, generating foreign currency and creating skilled jobs, with a positive impact on regional economies”, the government added.
In Chile, the president of the Republic, José Antonio Kast, and the United States Under Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, signed a joint declaration last week for the establishment of consultations on critical minerals and rare earths.
These consultations aim to develop mechanisms that strengthen critical minerals and rare earth supply chains, among other initiatives.
The United States’ efforts to strengthen ties with Latin America in the mining sector may favor the advancement of projects. However, containing Chinese influence in the region will not be a simple task, even in countries that currently have governments more aligned with the Trump administration.
China is today Chile’s main trading partner and also an important trading partner of Argentina.
In the case of Brazil, where the current government maintains a strong relationship with China, the interest of the United States in the mining sector is seen as positive by the industry, since it tends to diversify the players operating in the segment.