August Pfluger, a congressman representing Texas' 11th District, expressed concerns on a podcast about the United States' reliance on China for battery and critical mineral supply chains. He said that this dependency poses significant national security risks.
"This issue specifically, of the Chinese Communist Party's desire to dominate the battery...and the critical mineral supply chains, is really important," said Agust Pfluger. "We know that China controls over 75 percent of the global battery cell production and refines more than half of the world's lithium, cobalt and graphite I think the question is stopping their continued monopolization of this industry. You cannot be dependent on adversarial countries for your food, for your energy, and in this case, for the components that make up many of the devices, and also energy sources, that we use on a daily basis. So, this is a national security-level concern."
According to Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and several industry analyses, China maintains dominant control over nearly every segment of the lithium-ion battery supply chain. This includes raw material mining and refining as well as component and cell manufacturing. China processes over half of the world’s lithium, cobalt, and graphite and is responsible for approximately 85% of global battery cell manufacturing value. This strategic position has raised concerns among U.S. and European policymakers who are urgently seeking to diversify supply sources and build domestic capacity to reduce reliance on China.
A study by Fraunhofer ISI in 2024 found that China processes more than 50% of the world’s lithium, cobalt, and natural graphite, with graphite processing being almost exclusively based in China (over 90%). The BloombergNEF's 2025 global lithium-ion battery supply chain ranking placed China at the top for both infrastructure and value chain development. Additionally, UN Comtrade data indicated that China was responsible for 44% of global battery mineral imports and 58% of exports in 2023.
The Clean Investment Monitor reported that as of the first quarter of 2025, there are 123 operational battery manufacturing projects in the U.S., providing a combined annual production capacity of approximately 202 gigawatt-hours (GWh). Argonne National Laboratory forecasts North American battery production could reach or exceed 1,200 GWh by 2030. Despite this growth, uncertainty regarding federal policy support led to the cancellation of around $6 billion in planned U.S. battery projects in early 2025.
August Lee Pfluger has served as a Republican U.S. Representative for Texas’s 11th Congressional District since 2021. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with advanced degrees from Georgetown University, Pfluger spent two decades as an Air Force fighter pilot and continues his service as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve. In Congress, he is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee.
