The U.S. Department of State announced in Toronto, Canada, on April 14 that the United States and key partner countries, including Canada, have established the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) to strengthen critical mineral supply chains and secure the supply of key minerals critical to clean energy and other technologies. Since the Biden administration took office, the U.S. has been evaluating its domestic supply chain of key minerals and raw materials and has been trying to promote cooperation with allies and strengthen indigenous processing capabilities to reduce dependence on Chinese products. International experts said in an interview with the Global Times on the 15th that in an era of high global interdependence, instead of persistently pursuing the so-called "absolute security" of the supply chain, it would be better to return to common sense and rationality and promote genuine common security and common development by means of diplomacy and cooperation. This may be a more important concern for the U.S. political circles.

　　Establishing "mineral security partnership"

　　According to a statement issued by the U.S. Department of State on the 14th, the goal of the MSP is to ensure the production, processing and recovery of critical minerals to support the ability of countries to take full advantage of their minerals for economic development. In addition to the United States and Canada, MSP partners currently include Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the European Commission.

　　According to Reuters 14, global demand for minerals such as nickel, lithium and cobalt is expected to grow significantly in the coming decades. These minerals are key raw materials for the manufacture of batteries, electric cars, wind turbines and solar panels, and are also widely used in a variety of products from computers to other household appliances. U.S. State Department Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environmental Affairs Fernandez said the U.S. will need large amounts of the above key minerals to meet emissions reduction targets and "will need six times more lithium by 2050 than it does today to meet clean energy goals."

　　According to a "fact sheet" previously published on the White House website, as early as February 2021, the U.S. government signed an executive order requiring the relevant departments to assess the vulnerability of the supply chain of key minerals and raw materials within 100 days. Last June, the Biden administration released its first assessment of the supply chain. The report concluded that the United States' over-reliance on "foreign and adversary countries" for critical minerals and raw materials has posed a threat to national and economic security. Globally, China controls most of the processing and refining markets for cobalt, lithium, rare earths and other key minerals. The report recommends that the United States work with partner nations and allies to diversify sustainable resources and expand domestic mining, production, processing and recycling of key minerals and raw materials. To that end, in February, the Biden administration announced major investment plans to expand the domestic supply chain for key minerals, with the stated aim of breaking dependence on China and promoting sustainable development.

　　Concerned about ammunition supply chain security

　　In the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States has recently become particularly concerned about its dependence on China for the key mineral antimony. Defense News 8 reported that the United States has relied almost entirely on China and, to a lesser extent, Russia in recent years for the key mineral antimony, which is critical to munitions production. "The Voice of America reported on 15 May that between 2011 and 2015, China produced 75 to 83 percent of the world's raw antimony; by 2021, China will still be the world's leading producer of antimony, accounting for 55 percent of global production of the mineral, and that the high cost of the U.S. domestic extractive industry and strict environmental standards are among the reasons for its dependence on Chinese antimony. One reason. Members of Congress from both parties are taking legislative action to try to address the U.S.'s over-reliance on Chinese antimony.

　　According to Defense News, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee has recently sought to strengthen the defense rare earth mineral reserves critical to the defense industry supply chain in the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The committee last Wednesday included, for the first time, measures to help the United States reduce its dependence on Chinese antimony in draft legislation for the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.

　　A report accompanying the bill requires the head of the U.S. Defense Reserve to brief the committee by October of this year on the status of antimony, along with a five-year outlook for these minerals and current and future supply chain vulnerabilities. The draft also requires the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a policy for recycling used batteries in order to recycle "precious metals, rare earth minerals, and elements of strategic importance (such as cobalt and lithium) into the U.S. supply chain or strategic reserve. "The Voice of America quoted experts as suggesting that the U.S. also needs to strengthen cooperation with Central Asia, especially antimony suppliers Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, in terms of access to antimony mines.

　　Experts: the old recipe for anti-China "decoupling

　　According to the Financial Times, the U.S. Department of Defense has signed a $120 million agreement with Australia's Linus Rare Earths to build the first heavy rare earth separation plants in the United States. The move is part of U.S. efforts to counter China's dominant position in the critical rare earth supply chain, the report said. With no commercial-scale rare-earth processing plants on its soil, Washington fears that key rare earths could be cut off if relations with China deteriorate further, and under the agreement with Linus, the rare-earth production process will exclude China entirely.

　　"The old recipe of anti-China 'decoupling', the endless layers of new materials," Qi Kai, an associate professor at the Institute of Globalization and Global Issues at China University of Political Science and Law, commented to the Global Times on the 15th that in an era of high global interdependence, the U.S. would be better off if it had a strong commitment to the so-called In an era of high global interdependence, if the United States always holds the concept of "absolute security", "absolute leadership" and "absolute hegemony" in the supply chain, there may be endless "new hidden dangers "It is also enough to provide endless rhetoric and "evidence" for the anti-China forces in the United States. According to Qi Kai, it is difficult to see the possibility of implementing such practices in the short and medium term, and to promote the so-called "decoupling" when the huge geopolitical impact is already extremely serious is undoubtedly harmful to others and adds to the already gloomy global economy. (Global Times special correspondent in the United States Ying Chen Global Times reporter Zhao Juejiao Wu Ming)

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)