Critical Minerals: US Congress Prepares to Ban Imports of Refined Cobalt from China
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) produces more than 70% of the world's cobalt, but most of it is refined in China, and China also owns several mines in the DRC. As tensions between the United States and China escalate, the DRC may be affected.
On March 24, 2025, Republican Representative Christopher Henry Smith proposed a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to block cobalt refined in China from entering the U.S. market. As of March 30, 2025, the H.R.2310 bill has not yet been published online.
In December 2023, Smith introduced a similar measure, but it failed to advance before the November 2024 election. The bill was advised by the Ecofin institution, aiming to cut ties with supply chains related to cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and refined in China.
This bill is called the H.R. 6909 bill or the "Cobalt Restriction Act." It seeks to ban products containing cobalt refined in China unless it can be proven that they are not from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The United States had previously marked cobalt from the DRC due to labor issues. In September 2024, the Department of Labor added it to the product list. However, this latest bill was proposed against the backdrop of deteriorating relations between the United States and China, as China controls more than 80% of the global refined cobalt supply.
This proposal raises a key issue: the United States' attempt to restrict China's dominance over cobalt in the DRC. Apart from refining, China also controls several cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since 2023, China's Luoyang Molybdenum Group has become the world's largest cobalt producer through its Tenke Fungurume and Kisanfu mines in the DRC.
Source: ecofinagency
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1828263509829696/
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