Don Jr.’s shadow hangs over Trump mine fight as China retains critical minerals leverage

President Donald Trump’s push to expand U.S. mining and loosen China’s global grip on critical minerals is colliding with his administration’s defense in court of a Biden-era veto blocking Alaska’s copper-rich Pebble Mine, reviving scrutiny of Donald Trump Jr.’s past opposition to the project.

The fight over Pebble Mine has spanned multiple administrations. Including in 2014, when the Obama Environmental Protection Agency concluded mining in Bristol Bay’s headwaters could damage the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. Biden’s EPA vetoed the project in January 2023, prompting a lawsuit from Pebble and the state of Alaska. The Trump Department of Justice is now defending that veto in court. 

The clash under the Trump administration has given Pebble supporters new ammunition to argue the White House is undercutting its own agenda as Trump races to secure domestic supplies of copper and other minerals critical to defense systems and advanced technology.

It also puts Trump Jr.’s stance on Pebble Mine back in focus. In 2020, Trump Jr. publicly opposed the mine, joining GOP operative Nick Ayers, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, in citing concerns about the local bay's ecosystem. 

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"As a sportsman who has spent plenty of time in the area I agree 100% [with Ayers]," Trump Jr. wrote on X in August 2020. "The headwaters of Bristol Bay and the surrounding fishery are too unique and fragile to take any chances with. #PebbleMine."

John Shively, CEO of Pebble Limited Partnership, the company hoping to develop the mine, contended that the Trump DOJ defending the Biden-era veto undermines the president's agenda and would force the United States to cede copper and rare earth minerals to Beijing. Shively called the veto a "textbook example of D.C. bureaucrats imposing their will on Alaska."

"It sort of conflicts a little bit with what President Trump is doing," Shively told Fox News Digital in an interview. "I'll give him credit. One of the things I like to say in life is, 'If you don't recognize a problem, you're never going to solve it.' Well, they have recognized we're in serious trouble in getting minerals in this country and metals, and so it's a little surprising they continued the EPA lawsuit."

The White House and EPA did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. The DOJ, which is representing EPA in court as it fights to keep the Biden-era veto in place, declined to comment and deferred to the EPA.

Since Trump took office, his administration has moved quickly to dismantle the environmental policies of his liberal predecessors and strengthen the United States' mineral supply. Trump signed executive orders that declared a national emergency on critical minerals, directed federal agencies to fast-track permitting processes and expanded the government's list of critical minerals by adding copper and nine others to the list.

Trump Jr., an avid outdoorsman, has not spoken to the president or anyone in the administration during this term about Pebble Mine, but he did weigh in on the matter with his father in the first term, a source close to Trump Jr. told Fox News Digital. 

One industry source who spoke to Fox News Digital pointed to Trump Jr. and Ayers, attributing the Trump administration's position on Pebble Mine in part to them. Ayers, like Trump Jr., openly opposed the mine in an X post in 2020.

"Like millions of conservationists and sportsmen, I am hoping @realDonaldTrump will direct @EPA to block the Pebble mine in Bristol Bay," Ayers wrote on X. "A Canadian company will unnecessarily mine the USA's greatest fishery at a severe cost. This should be stopped." Pebble, which is spearheading the mine project, is a U.S. offshoot of Canadian company Northern Dynasty Minerals.

Ayers did not provide comment for this story.

The source close to Trump Jr. said that in the first administration, the president's son told associates he was concerned, having been to Bristol Bay to fish on multiple occasions, about the mine's potential effect on the ecosystem there.

The industry source balked at the Trump administration's Pebble Mine contradiction, saying it was rooted in profit motives. The source told Fox News Digital that "these guys are cheap dates. … Like you sold your soul for a fishing trip on a boat for a week." 

"How can you open at the one hand this reserve of rare earths to stop the Chinese from cornering the market, but then say, 'We're not going to have our own mining industry'?" the source said.

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When asked about potential outside influences affecting the administration's position, Shively said: "Instead of focusing on comments from the past, we hope the administration is worried about the next president using this EPA veto to shut down signature Trump energy and critical mineral projects."

The veto, also known as a "kill switch," is a rarely-used mechanism of the Clean Water Act. The law allows a company to seek a mining permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but the EPA can use the kill switch to block the permit.

Pebble's permit request was rejected in the first Trump term, but Pebble won a reversal of that decision through an internal appeals process. That internal process was still playing out when the Biden administration issued the veto.

Pebble is asking the court to scrap the veto and allow the company to continue with the permitting process.

Pebble lawyers have argued that the company "spent decades and a billion dollars planning the safest and least impactful mine possible" and that studies adequately addressed the salmon concerns.

China is the world's leading import source for more than two dozen critical minerals, including most rare earth minerals. The Trump administration has said that domestic access to critical minerals, including rare earths, is fundamental to national security and AI infrastructure.

The United States has, in recent decades, gone from dominating the production of the world’s rare earths to relying on China, which now controls roughly 70% of mining and nearly 90% of refining, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

China dominates the refining of many critical minerals and more than half of global copper refining, while the U.S. imports roughly 45% of its copper supply. Pebble says the mine could supply about 15% of U.S. copper demand.

"We’ve already committed to building a lot more defense capacity," Shively said, noting that copper would be used for nuclear submarines, large aircraft carriers, jets and more crucial defense supplies.

In addition to copper, the Pebble mineral deposit is also rich in rare earths, Shively said, noting Pebble could mine rhenium and molydbdenum, which is used to strengthen steel. 

Shively said the veto, if the court approves it, would set a dangerous precedent that allows future administrations and activists to level broader Clean Water Act vetoes. The current veto targets an expansive 220,000-acre area of Alaska containing an estimated 80 billion pounds of copper, according to court papers. 

"If they can use this tool against us, they can use it anywhere in the country," Shively said. "And when you get rabid environmentalists in government, they tend to use these kinds of tools."

Briefing in the lawsuit is set to be completed by mid-April, and the court could issue a decision anytime after that or call for oral arguments to continue examining the fight.