By Ernest Scheyder
July 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Mondaytold the Pentagon to find better ways to procure a rare earthmagnet used in specialty motors, warning that the nation'sdefense would suffer without adequate stockpiles.
Attention is growing on rare earths, an obscure grouping of17 minerals used to build weapons, consumer electronics and arange of other goods. There are no known substitutes.
Trump said that the United States did not have enoughcapacity to make samarium cobalt rare earth permanent magnets,which can withstand high temperatures and are resistant tocorrosion. They are commonly found in precision-guided missiles,smart bombs and military jets.
The order came as part of a letter to Congressionalcommittee leaders, as required under the Defense Production Act(DPA), a 1950s-era U.S. law that gives the president andPentagon wide berth to procure equipment necessary for thenational defense.
The United States used to be the world leader in productionof rare earths and rare earth magnets, though China nowdominates the industry and is using that to its advantage in theongoing trade dispute between the two countries.
China produces nearly two-thirds of the world's samariumcobalt rare earth magnets, according to U.S. governmentestimates.
Trump ordered the Department of Defense to develop andpurchase equipment to boost output of the magnets for use by theU.S. military.
"These proposed initiatives are essential to the nationaldefense," Trump said in a letter to Representative MaxineWaters, the chairwoman of the House Committee on FinancialServices, and to Senator Mike Crapo, the chairman of the SenateCommittee on Banking, Houston and Urban Affairs.
The DPA is overseen by the two committees.
The Pentagon has already asked miners to describe plans todevelop U.S. rare earths mines and processing facilities by theend of July.(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)