As China strengthens its global resource grip, the US is facing a serious mineral crisis

During a hearing Tuesday at Capitol Hill, experts warned a bipartisan group of House Foreign Affairs Committee lawmakers. China’s chalk against important minerals It has become the “problem of life or death” of this century.

China’s Mineral export restrictions Important for technology, defense, automotive manufacturing and the emerging artificial intelligence industry, its reliance on Beijing amid the trade war with Washington has sparked great concern not only among the US but also among international leaders.

According to California Democrat Young Kim, China manages 92% of the processing of rare earth materials on the planet and “dominates the production of battery and magnet components.”

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Similarly, Frank Fannon, director of Fannon Global Advisors, confirmed to lawmakers on the House Subcommittee in East Asia and the Pacific that “China controls most of the key minerals that support defence systems, energy technology, energy technology for the modern economy and the components.”

“While the US has an important resource fund, the US is 100% import addiction in nearly a quarter of the 50 important minerals, and 29 of them are more than 50% dependent,” he added.

Lawmakers have pushed experts to be the top of the US to fight the situation most against the ever-increasing, economic concerns as well as becoming a top national security issue.

“(We’ve got to produce),” said Joseph Manchin, a former Democratic Sen. from West Virginia, who became an independent in 2024.

Manchin, the country’s second largest coal mining state, said the issue was not only the fact that the US stopped trying to meet its needs with its introduction; Large international trade In the 90s, they weren’t leaning against the right partners overseas.

“We have allies that we can rely on,” he said. Both Canada And Australia has a “risky cache” of rare earth materials. “And you’re making sure Korea and Japan can do the purification.”

“We have components to get into the game right away,” he added.

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Former Jose Fernandez, a former state department secretary of economic growth, energy and environment, noted that it takes up to 20 years for the mine to function perfectly.

“We cannot continue to operate this way,” he said, emphasizing that the US needs to look at China’s threat to its supply chains comprehensively and in both the near and long term. “It’s all of the above, all hands deck.”

Experts were also pressed About customs dutiesespecially in Trump’s global tariff spats.

Manchin argued that tariffs are a great tool and should be used as a “guardrail” to protect the industry from China, which covers important mineral markets.

Fernandez repeated this sentiment, but warned against excessive use of tariffs.

“If our country doesn’t have minerals… that’s no use for us,” Fernandez told lawmakers. “But with the minerals we have, I think tariffs are one of the tools we have in our toolbox.”

Ultimately, experts warned that the US needs to make major changes to how it deals with the ever-present “revenue” by convincing shareholders to counter and not invest in home mining, overseas trade transactions, and cheaper fees. Chinese companies.

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“It’s become the American way, but now it’s not beneficial to us. Essentially, it’s all about return on investment,” Manchin warned. “If we don’t appear in the game pretty quickly, if we don’t look at the bottom line now, if we did it during World War II, we wouldn’t have won it — and we’re in the same situation now.

“It’s a matter of life or death in the 21st century.”