White House working to create ‘critical minerals marketplace’

By Hannah Northey | 10/24/2024 04:18 PM EDT

The Biden administration is countering Chinese overproduction of critical minerals with targeted tariffs.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan arrives for a press briefing at the White House.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan arrives for a press briefing Oct. 1 at the White House. Mark Schiefelbein/AP

The Biden administration is working to create a “critical minerals marketplace” with U.S. allies to wrest away control from adversarial nations like China, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday.

The U.S. and its partners are facing a “great power competition,” Sullivan said during an event at the Brookings Institution in Washington, pointing to the concentration of critical minerals and processing in China. The pandemic, he said, laid bare the fragility of global supply chains — including critical minerals needed to make electric vehicles, renewable energy and military equipment — even as the climate crisis worsens.

The U.S. and its allies, he continued, are now facing competition from a country that uses “pervasive non-market policies and practices to distort and dominate global markets,” and must invest to counter China’s dominance or that dependency could be weaponized.

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“That’s why we are working with them to create a high-standard, critical minerals marketplace, one that diversifies our supply chains, creates a level playing field for our producers, and promotes strong workers’ rights and environmental protections,” said Sullivan. ”And we’re driving towards tangible progress on that idea in just the next few weeks.”

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