A bipartisan Senate bill coming out Wednesday would forge an alliance of U.S. trading partners that would no longer face certain tariffs in exchange for helping counter China’s manipulation of global markets.
The “Restoring American Mineral Security Act” from Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), would authorize the U.S. Trade Representative to create a “Critical Minerals Security Alliance.”
Members of the alliance would match U.S. tariffs on mineral goods and related products from adversarial countries like China and Russia. They would also coordinate and share information around mining and processing of materials like nickel, cobalt and lithium.
The bill would zero out tariffs on critical minerals and certain related products like batteries and magnets traded between member countries. Alliance nations would also be buffered from future tariffs.
