Republicans are focused on outperforming China in critical minerals procurement and are proposing laws to ensure the US can quickly expand its supplies.
During former President Joe Biden’s administration, Republicans persistently warned that China enjoyed a growing chokehold on the world’s critical mineral supplies.
Currently, China is the largest producer of processed critical minerals, processing nearly all of the available critical mineral stock.
According to an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, China processes 40% of mined Copper, 70% of Cobalt, 65% of Lithium, 100% of Graphite, and 90% of rare earth metals.
Despite President Biden’s executive actions to strengthen American critical mineral supply chains, Republican lawmakers believe additional measures are necessary.
President Donald Trump issued executive orders shortly after his inauguration to expand domestic minerals production.
The orders streamlined mining permitting processes, waived regulations stalling mine projects, and initiated governmental investigations to find other actions that could improve the US’s critical mineral supply.
Republican lawmakers have paralleled Trump’s orders with other critical mineral legislation.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), for example, recently introduced legislation designed to boost US critical mineral production.
Senator Cotton’s Necessary Environmental Exemptions for Defense Act grants American critical mineral mining projects exemptions from certain environmental regulations.
Citing China’s outsized control of critical mineral supplies, Cotton argued improving US critical mineral production is essential for national security and to defeat China in any potential conflicts.
“Current environmental laws put our readiness to counter Communist China at risk and waste taxpayer dollars on projects that stall out and die on the vine,” said Cotton.
Cotton’s bill would exempt projects that the US’s Defense Secretary determines to be vital for “countering the threat of the Chinese Community Party to the United States.”
