US senators introduce bill confronting China’s dominance in critical minerals
“Currently, China dominates the critical mineral industry and is actively working to ensure that the US does not catch up,” said Senator Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat who is the bill’s lead sponsor.
“The US must, alongside allies, take meaningful steps to protect and expand our production and procurement of these critical minerals,” he continued, adding that his legislation would serve as a “road map” to doing so.
Other sponsors of the bill include Democrats Chris Coons of Delaware, Mark Kelly of Arizona and John Hickenlooper of Colorado; Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Thom Tillis of North Carolina; and Angus King, independent of Maine.
Critical minerals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt are essential inputs for military supply chains and clean energy technologies. Rare earths are a type of critical mineral that are especially hard to extract.
Concerned that Beijing might withhold the materials to undermine US national and economic security, President Joe Biden’s administration has incentivised alternative suppliers to replace Chinese refiners through tax credits, trade deals and government loans.
Legislative efforts to counter China’s dominance of critical minerals have also been steady.
Last month the House select committee on China started a working group on critical minerals, which held its second business meeting Wednesday.
Separately on Thursday, Rubio introduced a bill that would impose mandatory tariffs on products that rely on critical minerals coming from China, including electromagnets, permanent magnets, batteries, solar panels and solar wafers.
Source link