Biden officials are shelving one major option they considered to counter China’s market control of critical minerals by offering competitors a limited financial lifeline, according to a senior administration official.
The Energy Department is no longer weighing whether to use federal dollars to offset the price of cheap metals like nickel, cobalt and lithium from China that have flooded the market, said the official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.
That means the difficult job of figuring out how to offer up limited, financial support for mineral producers facing unfair market practices will need to make their case to the incoming Trump administration and a Republican Congress.
Critical minerals are a choke point for the U.S., the nation’s climate goals, and the global shift to renewables and electric vehicles. It’s not clear whether the incoming Trump administration or a Republican-led Congress will be willing to directly intervene in the marketplace.
