Donalds Says U.S. Should Prioritize ‘Critical Minerals’

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R) discussed a plethora of topics in a “Beyond the Stump” event for Republican voters. Hosted by Christian Ziegler (R), the Florida GOP Chair, the evening event was an opportunity for Donalds to speak directly to voters regarding the most pressing issues in the political world. In speaking to voters, Donalds outlined what the most pressing concerns are, citing that the United States should focus on “critical minerals.”

Aside from mentioning the national debt as a pressing matter in the political landscape, Donalds mentioned numerous other issues that voters should worry about.

“Social security and medicare – how we’re going to actually repair those programs so that they don’t make our debt problems even worse than they are right now; border security, obviously is important, energy security is massively important. For young conservatives, looking at our energy system, our energy matrix… making sure we have an ‘all of the above’ strategy, and the last one that I really think about a lot is critical minerals,” Donalds explained.

Republicans have long argued that the Biden administration is only strengthening the Chinese Communist Party with its policies, and while Republicans have spoken at length of the growing threat of China, Donalds mentioned that the U.S. has neglected the importance of critical minerals in the world’s affairs.

“It doesn’t get talked a lot on cable news. It’s not ‘sexy,’ but China dominates the world in critical minerals,” Donalds explained, adding that “cobalt, nickel, copper, rare earth, lithium, they’re dominating the globe.”

“America has to get in that game… if we don’t, we’re just gonna make it easier for the Chinese to be the world’s super power,” Donalds added.

The comments come as the U.S. nears an agreement with the European Union that would allow critical minerals mined or processed in Europe to qualify for U.S. clean vehicle tax breaks.