Donald Trump’s Trade War Mints An Unlikely New American Mining Billionaire

Forbes

Hedge fund trader James Litinsky turned a $20 million distressed bonds bet into a billion-dollar mining fortune—with a little help from Uncle Sam and the Chinese.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2025/08/10/trumps-trade-war-mints-an-unlikely-new-american-mining-billionaire/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

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00:00Today on Forbes, Trump's trade war mince an unlikely new American mining billionaire.

00:07In July, the Defense Department made an unusual move for a federal U.S. agency when it purchased

00:13$400 million of newly created shares, plus warrants to buy additional stock, in the rare

00:19earth's miner MP Materials. As part of the deal, the DoD also signed a 10-year agreement

00:25to buy rare earth magnets from MP Materials to power its future instruments of warfare.

00:32The federal government came calling because MP Materials owns the only rare earth mine

00:37in the U.S. at its mountain pass site in California's Mojave Desert, where it extracts, refines, and

00:43separates rare earth materials like neodymium and praseodymium. Those elements are essential

00:50ingredients in the magnets used by electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, robotics,

00:56wind turbines, and other advanced technologies. Shares in MP Materials have risen 150% since

01:04the DoD announcement, pushing James Latinski, founder and CEO, into the Three Comma Club.

01:10The 47-year-old Las Vegas resident is worth an estimated $1.2 billion between his 8% stake

01:17in MP Materials, worth about $1 billion as of last week's market close, and over $200 million

01:23in cash and outside investments, per Forbes' estimates.

01:28Latinski, who did not respond to Forbes' request for comment on his wealth, is not your typical

01:33mining magnate. He studied economics at Yale and received his JD and MBA from Northwestern University

01:39before working in an investment giant Fortress Group and then founding his own hedge fund,

01:44JHL Capital, in 2006. His firm acquired $20.5 million worth of distressed bonds issued by

01:52Molycorp Minerals, the previous owner of the Mountain Pass site, in 2014. Three years later,

01:58during Molycorp's bankruptcy proceedings, he turned those bonds into full ownership of the mine,

02:04which had flooded and was inactive. After getting $50 million in financing from a Chinese backer

02:09and orchestrating an 18-month cleanup effort, the newly named MP Materials began mining operations

02:15in 2018. Latinski took the company public in 2020 through a SPAC, and its output has more than

02:22tripled since it began operations. While Trump's tariffs and trade war wreak havoc on global supply

02:28chains and raise consumer prices in the United States, MP Materials is uniquely positioned to benefit

02:35from the chaos, especially from the escalating standoff between the U.S. and China. That's because China

02:41dominates the global rare-earths trade, processing 90% of the metals and producing 95% of high-strength

02:47magnets. The U.S. imports nearly all of its 7,000 tons annually from China. China has used U.S. reliance on

02:55its rare-earth magnets as a key bargaining chip in its negotiations with Trump. Following Trump's so-called

03:02Liberation Day tariffs announcement in April, China began requiring foreign companies to obtain export

03:07licenses for rare-earth magnets, which caused a crisis for U.S. firms. Exports of the magnets to

03:14the U.S. declined 59% year-over-year in April and a whopping 93% in May, the Wall Street Journal reported.

03:22For MP Materials, the chokehold spurred a surge in domestic demand. In April, Latinski told Forbes,

03:29quote, the sense of urgency, I've never seen anything like it.

03:33Ironically, Latinski has relied on the Chinese to get MP Materials off the ground and sustain its

03:39business prior to Trump's trade war. Chenghe Resources, a Chengdu-based rare-earths giant that

03:46is partially owned by the Chinese government, helped finance JHL's 2017 bid by purchasing $50 million

03:53of future rare-earth concentrate produced by MP Materials. Those funds helped pay for the mine's

03:59cleanup effort and new capital costs, in return for an 8.4% stake in the company, which Chenghe still

04:06holds. It has no operational involvement at MP Materials and does not have a board seat.

04:12Chenghe is also its largest customer, accounting for 80% of its $204 million in revenue last year.

04:19That is changing fast. After the so-called Liberation Day tariffs and China's retaliatory

04:24tariffs, MP Materials announced it would stop shipping its products to China and focus on

04:29other buyers. For full coverage, check out John Hyatt's piece on Forbes.com.

04:38This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

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