Today, the consumer protection watchdog group Public Citizen released a report detailing the Trump administration’s secretive web of critical minerals deals around the world. The report, exclusively shared with Mother Jones, shows that the number of deals the administration has publicly claimed to have does not match up with the number of countries known to have signed these agreements. The researchers also detail the many ways these deals can exploit countries experiencing violent conflict—and the ways they might enrich the President’s backers.

“This is now a huge web of deals that are being negotiated behind closed doors without any public scrutiny or oversight,” said Melinda St. Louis, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch research group. “Even the things they are announcing, the numbers don’t add up.”

It’s clear that Donald Trump and his administration are fixated on critical minerals— things like cobalt, lithium, and graphite, used for purposes as wide-ranging as building batteries or building missiles. “It’s really striking just how much President Trump is personally involved in this,” St. Louis said.........

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