Pakistan plays Rare Earth card in Washington: What Asim Munir’s gift to Trump really signifies

Officials say the gesture was meant to play directly to Trump’s taste for flashy optics. “Known for valuing flashy optics and tangible deals, the US President was shown something he could see, hold, and potentially boast about, rather than being engaged in abstract diplomatic rhetoric,” one senior source noted.

This military-led sales pitch reveals how Pakistan is treating its rare earths not as a normal export but as a strategic asset. The Frontier Works Organization, the army’s commercial arm, already controls key mining concessions. Munir’s appearance was also meant to reassure US investors that Pakistan’s military, not its struggling civilian institutions, would oversee and protect any American entry into its mining sector.

Economic desperation

Pakistan’s turn to rare earth diplomacy comes as its economy sinks deeper into crisis. IMF lending conditions are tightening and most of the benefits from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor flow to Beijing. By highlighting resources that are critical for US defence systems, electric vehicles and semiconductor manufacturing, Islamabad is trying to tell Washington that it offers something beyond its familiar role as a security client.

Sources stress that the message was aimed in several directions at once. By making the presentation in Washington rather than in Beijing or Riyadh, Pakistan wanted Gulf monarchies to see it diversifying its patrons. It was also a signal to India, which is working with Quad partners to secure critical minerals, that Pakistan intends to insert itself into the same conversation.

Early signs of US interest

There are indications that Washington is at least listening. Islamabad recently signed a 500-million-dollar memorandum of understanding with American firm US Strategic Metals (USSM). Intelligence sources interpret this as an early sign that the United States is willing to explore Pakistan’s resource potential more seriously.

But the same sources warn that the deal-making optics may serve Pakistan more than its partners. Trump’s praise and the photo-op with Munir and Sharif are already being promoted in Pakistan as proof of a “long-term strategic plus economic partnership” with the United States.

By turning rare earth minerals into a diplomatic prop, Pakistan is trying to rebrand itself at a time of economic weakness and international isolation. Intelligence officials conclude that the sight of Field Marshal Munir personally offering the samples in the Oval Office demonstrates Pakistan’s belief that its critical minerals are not just economic assets but national security assets. By staging the act in Washington, Islamabad has signalled that it wants to use them as leverage, not as simple trade goods.