US Senators Introduce Bill to Reduce Pentagon Reliance on China for Critical Minerals

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Senators Mitt Romney and Dan Sullivan introduced new legislation that aims to ensure the US Defense Department can reduce reliance on China for critical minerals by boosting funding for mining operations in the United States and allied countries.

"China’s rise in power is aided by its monopolization of raw materials and the US must secure critical mineral independence to bolster our security," Romney said in a press release on Wednesday. "Rapid, strategic investments by the US and its allies in the mining and processing of critical minerals are needed to meet the security challenges we face today."

The lawmakers said the act’s objective is to achieve critical mineral supply chain independence for the Pentagon by 2027.

The bill authorizes the use of $1 billion to execute the procurement strategy and requires the Defense Logistics Agency to develop a strategy to expedite critical mineral mining and processing.

The Biden administration has identified 50 critical minerals that are essential to US economic or national security which have supply chains vulnerable to disruption. The US is 100% import dependent on at least 15 of the critical materials, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). China is the United States’ primary import source for around a dozen or more of the critical materials identified, USGS data revealed.

This is an aerial view of the five-sided Pentagon building, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington, Va., in 1975

© AP Photo

A number of the minerals on the list, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite are critical for the production of electric vehicles and transitioning to a green economy. The White House projected that demand for these minerals is set to grow by up to 4,000% in the next several decades.

China is the most dominant of critical mineral sources, controlling about 90% of the global rare earths markets and is the most dominant in a slew of others. The White House also said China controls 87% of the global permanent magnet market, which are used in EV motors, defense systems, electronics, and wind turbines.