Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg hammered The New York Times on Sunday over its coverage of the Trump administration’s newly announced formation of the “Pax Silica” investor consortium after the report required multiple corrections.
“The @NYTimes completely FABRICATED quotes that never happened. We submitted corrections (multiple times). They ignored them,” Helberg alleged in a post on X.
“So for posterity, sharing my full remarks,” he continued, including a video clip of his full remarks announcing the new initiative.
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The Times replied to the post, acknowledging that it issued multiple corrections to its reporting on the initiative, clarifying both the scale of the consortium and Helberg’s remarks.
“We corrected the errors as soon as we became aware of them,” the paper’s communications account posted.
The article originally misreported the amount of funding and misquoted Helberg, later correcting that the consortium involves more than $1 trillion in assets under management, not a committed $1 trillion investment, and that Helberg described the situation in the Strait of Hormuz as “a lesson,” not “a blessing.”
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Helberg described the new initiative as a major effort to align U.S. national security and technology policy amid global supply chain concerns.
“This fund will serve as a catalyst, the credibility and the call to action for partners around the world to put serious capital behind shared strategic objectives,” Helberg said as he detailed the program.
Helberg framed the effort as part of a broader push to strengthen coordination between government and industry on national security priorities.
“Since being sworn in as under-secretary of state last October, my office has built on that partnership to answer President Trump’s call, win the AI race and secure supply chains,” he said.
Helberg said the consortium includes sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors representing “more than $1 trillion in combined assets under management,” alongside a $250 million U.S. government fund.
“We are formally establishing the Pax Silica Investor Consortium, which is a landmark coalition of sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors, joining forces around a single strategic imperative,” he said.
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He added that the goal is to ensure “the minerals, ports, corridors, factories and energy assets powering global semiconductor and technology supply chains stay in trusted hands.”
Helberg also pointed to geopolitical tensions as a driving factor behind the initiative’s urgency, referencing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
“What is unfolding in the Strait of Hormuz is a lesson,” he said. “Iran is deliberately weaponizing a single choke point in the global economy to hold the world hostage.”
“The lesson here is not only about oil, it’s about dependency,” Helberg said, warning that key supply routes and systems can “become the battlefield themselves.”
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He added that energy security would now become a central pillar of the initiative alongside mineral processing and logistics.
“Energy security will become our third, and it will be treated with the same urgency and seriousness as the two others,” he said.
Helberg also pointed to ongoing coordination with allied nations as a key pillar of the initiative, emphasizing partnerships with Gulf countries and other global investors as part of a broader effort to secure supply chains and counter geopolitical disruptions.
“America is doubling down on its allies in the Gulf,” Helberg said, adding that recent developments have demonstrated “strength, courage, and resilience.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the U.S. State Department and The New York Times for additional comment, but did not immediately receive a reply.
