US Ambassador Pete Hoekstra is urging Canada to act as a core US partner on critical minerals, energy and defence, framing a North American “economic fortress” built on Canadian resource endowment and mining expertise, including experience working with Indigenous communities. He cited existing integration such as 3–4 million barrels of oil per day moving from Alberta to the US, growing Quebec–US power interconnections, and Davie Shipbuilding’s expansion into Finland and Texas as models for cross-border industrial projects. Hoekstra warned that Washington is already backing billions of dollars in critical minerals deals with allies like Australia and “is not waiting” if Ottawa hesitates to join US-led frameworks.

MKM Building Supplies chief operating officer Dave Castle has been appointed board adviser to the Builders Merchants Federation, returning to the BMF Board as MKM expands its UK branch network. Castle, MKM’s first-ever COO with over 21 years’ experience in the building materials sector, has been working directly with branch directors, suppliers and customers to support ongoing investment in branches, people and services. His role at BMF will focus on training, safety, government lobbying and promoting careers in merchanting, giving MKM direct input into industry-wide policy discussions.

Resource nationalism is shifting from tax and royalty changes to export bans, production quotas and processing mandates, with China’s October 2025 rare earth export controls framework and the DRC’s 2025 cobalt export ban-turned-quota regime exposing supply chains to abrupt political risk. Indonesia’s nickel export ban has pulled in billions of dollars of downstream smelting and refining, while Vietnam’s ban on raw rare earth exports and Chile’s state-led lithium model tighten state control over value addition. Gibson Dunn warns that stabilisation clauses, force majeure terms and bilateral investment treaties are being stress-tested, making contract design, ownership structures and processing locations as critical as ore grades for lithium and rare earth projects.