Rare earths, tungsten and lithium were among 35 minerals deemed "essential" to US economic and national security by the Trump administration, and the new Biden presidency has continued this focus on removing China from the country's manufacturing supply chains – signing agreements with Australia and Canada in 2018 and 2020 respectively to secure the supply of rare earths. Additionally the US recently provided $US60m in funding for Australian rare earths miner Lynas to build a plant in Texas. Lynas has positioned itself to become the Western world's largest supplier of rare earths to the US military. The US funding is a sign of how anxious the US and other Western nations are to break China's dominance.