Congressman Rob Wittman, head of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) new Critical Mineral Working Group, stated that the U.S. needs to counter the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) dominance of global critical mineral and rare earth element (REE) supply chains. Wittman shared his statement during the working group’s second meeting on July 10.
"We need to take urgent action to ease the permitting burden on new domestic critical mineral miners and processors," said Wittman. "We also have to recognize the limits of markets to overcome the PRC's monopoly on REEs and other critical minerals and the need for targeted government intervention to restore domestic and ally critical mineral resilience. We cannot wait for the CCP to again weaponize its dominance over critical minerals at a time and place of its choosing."
On July 10, the Select Committee on the CCP Critical Mineral Policy Working Group held a meeting to discuss the United States’ "heavy reliance on Chinese imports of critical minerals," according to a press release. Wittman led the meeting alongside U.S. Representative Kathy Castor. The members discussed China’s lack of reciprocity, with Wittman saying, "We can’t build semiconductor plants without access to things like gallium, germanium, and graphite," and Castor adding, "[The Chinese Communist Party] is not fair, and in the United States of America we’re built upon fairness, in collaboration with our allies and like-minded countries."
Led by Wittman and Castor, the working group also includes Representatives Blaine Leutkemeyer, Haley Stevens, Carlos Gimenez, Ritchie Torres, and Ben Cline. The Policy Working Group (PWG) was created to produce legislation and spread awareness of the "CCP’s dominance of critical minerals." The PWG builds upon the Select Committee’s December report titled "Reset, Prevent, Build: A Strategy to Win America's Economic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party," which outlines a strategy against the PRC’s economic competition against the U.S. Moolenaar said that "critical minerals are the building blocks of everything from basic consumer goods to advanced military technology."
According to the Department of Energy, critical minerals are "substances that the U.S. government identifies as essential to energy technologies, economic and national security, and the manufacture of key products." Many technologies need these critical minerals due to their rare supply.
According to the Observer Research Foundation, "China control[s] 58 percent of global production of lithium compounds in 2022, 69 percent of nickel sulfate, 69 percent of synthetic graphite, 75 percent of cobalt, 95 percent of manganese and 100 percent of spherical graphite. China plays a similarly outsized role in supplying materials used in solar panels and wind turbines."
Wittman has represented Virginia’s First Congressional district since 2007. He is currently on the House Natural Resources Committee and Armed Services Committee where he serves as vice chairman of the full committee and chairman of the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee.
