Canada, U.S. drafting plans to curb China’s dominance in critical rare-earth minerals – by Robert Fife, Steven Chase and Daniel LeBlanc (Globe and Mail – September 30, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canada and the United States are drawing up plans to reduce their reliance on China for rare-earth minerals that are critical to high-tech and military products, such as smartphones and fighter jets.

The “joint action plan” – now being drafted by senior Canadian and U.S. officials – will be presented to the political party that forms the next government after the Oct. 21 election, according to a federal briefing document obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The document says the action plan should include defence funding for critical-minerals projects and strategic investments in North American processing facilities, as well as greater research and development in extraction of these rare-earth materials.

It says senior Canadian officials involved in economic and security issues have been meeting since July to discuss how Ottawa and Washington can secure access to vital minerals and metals, such as uranium, lithium, cesium and cobalt, from Chinese control.

In 2018, acting on a presidential order, the U.S. Department of the Interior, together with the Department of Defense, compiled a list of 35 mineral commodities considered critical to the economic and national security of the United States. Of these, China was the top supplier of 13 and the top producer of nearly 20.

For the rest of this article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canada-joins-us-efforts-to-curb-chinas-dominance-in-critical/