America wants to overtake China in critical minerals and reduce dependence

An senior official from the U.S. Department of Energy said on Monday, March 9, that the Trump administration is accelerating efforts to build resilience in the U.S. supply chain for critical minerals. She also believes that only through technological innovation in areas such as processing, recycling, and manufacturing equipment can the U.S. reduce its reliance on China.

Audrey Robertson, the assistant secretary for the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation at the U.S. Department of Energy, made these remarks during an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She stated that the U.S. not only needs to recover lost production capacity but must also develop new technologies to "leapfrog" China in several key links of the critical minerals supply chain.

The event centered around a special report recently released by CFR titled "Beyond China's Dominance in Critical Minerals: How Innovation Can Secure the U.S. Supply Chain." Robertson said that the issue of critical minerals involves the entire supply chain, from mining and refining to processing, magnet manufacturing, and recycling, and it is both complex and far-reaching.

She said, "This is a crucial topic, and it is not simple." She added that the U.S. government is trying to strengthen weak links in the entire critical minerals ecosystem because this system is vital for industries such as manufacturing, semiconductors, motors, and artificial intelligence.

The CFR report points out that China's dominance in critical minerals is not accidental but the result of years of strategic investment. The report states that China has openly set related goals in its "Made in China 2025" initiative and has continuously invested in the entire supply chain of critical minerals while expanding domestic demand for clean energy vehicles, wind power, semiconductors, aerospace, and defense industries.

In recent years, Washington has increasingly focused on China's dominant position in the global supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths. U.S. officials and analysts believe that this situation has become a major strategic vulnerability in American industry, defense production, and emerging technology sectors.

Robertson said that the U.S. Department of Energy has recently integrated previously scattered functions related to critical minerals into one office, which now oversees mining, processing, refining, pilot-scale R&D, and commercialization. She said that this has made the Department of Energy a core hub within the U.S. government for innovation and R&D in critical minerals.

She pointed out that the Department of Energy is promoting R&D in multiple areas, from mining technology to magnet manufacturing and recycling, through collaboration with national laboratories, universities, and the industry.

Robertson also said that the Trump administration is working to break down long-standing information barriers between federal agencies. She stated that President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year, allowing different government departments to share information and enhance cooperation to more effectively develop a critical minerals strategy.

The CFR report also advocates that the U.S. needs a "National Critical Minerals Innovation Strategy" led by the White House to break away from the current "fragmented and dispersed" approach. The report recommends that cross-departmental coordination should incorporate material science, new extraction and processing technologies, recycling, and waste development into national strategic priorities, rather than just focusing on traditional mineral production expansion.

Robertson said that within the U.S. government, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, the War Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Treasury Department, and the Export-Import Bank all play roles in this issue.

During the discussion, participants repeatedly mentioned that the U.S. cannot solve the problem alone and must work with allies to reduce the risk of being dependent on China in the critical minerals issue.

Robertson said that alliance cooperation is becoming increasingly important. She mentioned that the U.S. State Department held a ministerial-level meeting on February 4, bringing together countries that have signed or are negotiating bilateral agreements on critical minerals with the U.S. She also said that the U.S. Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Interior, and Environmental Protection Agency officials will visit Japan this week to sign more related agreements.

She said that the goal of these collaborations is to help the U.S. and its partner countries avoid being dependent on a single source or key bottlenecks in the critical minerals supply chain. The CFR report also recommends that the U.S. embed "innovation-driven mineral security" into the framework of alliance cooperation, establishing independent and faster-expanding competitive supply chains by jointly developing R&D, co-financing, building pilot infrastructure, and coordinating procurement, separate from China.

Robertson compared the current competition in critical minerals to the transformation of the U.S. oil and gas industry over the past 25 years. She said that the U.S. once feared energy shortages, but its innovative capabilities eventually changed the entire industry landscape, making the U.S. one of the world's largest natural gas exporters and oil producers.

She expressed hope that a similar transformation could occur in the critical minerals sector, allowing the U.S. to lead globally in materials science, alternative materials, and advanced processing technologies in the future.

Source: VOA

Original: toutiao.com/article/1859327233331200/

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