Critical minerals sit at the intersection of three policy objectives for the United States – and at times the security, economic, and climate aims are in direct contradiction.
“When I think about climate change, I think jobs,” U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said. His landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) embodies this idea, tying together U.S. climate and industrial policies with a vast array of subsidies aimed at sparking a green manufacturing boom. Built into these subsidies are mechanisms to secure U.S. supply chains and to shore up domestic manufacturing, which has atrophied in recent decades, strategic priorities that Biden inherited from his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Although recent U.S. policymaking has exhibited a hyperfocus on supply chain security for semiconductors and other dual-use items, an area of equal – arguably greater – strategic significance is the supply of critical minerals, the building blocks of most advanced technologies, including those with military application.
Ever-present, but often unspoken, in Washington’s supply chain strategy is China. From the nickel used in fighter jet engines to the rare earth elements used in wind turbines, China’s dominance in the global supply of critical minerals presents a potential chokehold on U.S. industry.
For the rest of this article: https://thediplomat.com/2024/08/securing-americas-critical-minerals-a-policy-priority-conundrum/