US targets China’s grip on critical minerals

Washington, July 16 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Trump administration has told lawmakers that it is reshaping US development finance and overseas investment to reduce America's dependence on China for critical minerals, energy, telecommunications and other strategic supply chains, arguing that economic security has become inseparable from national security.

Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday (local time), senior officials from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) outlined a coordinated strategy aimed at building alternative supply chains across Africa, the Indo-Pacific, Latin America and Central Asia while reducing Beijing's influence.

Opening the hearing, Committee Chairman Brian Mast said the United States "cannot remain dependent on China" for the materials, technologies and infrastructure that power its economy and military.

"The Chinese Communist Party has spent decades building control over mines, processing capacity, ports, logistic networks, technology platforms," Mast said. "Those dependencies were not created by accident. They were built to give Beijing leverage over the United States of America, over our allies, and over literally anybody."

DFC Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Black said the agency, recently reauthorised by Congress, now has "$205 billion of investment capacity" and has rebuilt its investment pipeline to "more than 340 deal opportunities totalling $78 billion" across sectors including energy, technology and critical minerals.

"Under President Trump's leadership, DFC is equipped to be a leading force for restoring US economic security," Black said.

He said the agency is financing projects that can establish Western-aligned supply chains, including investments in telecommunications, energy infrastructure and mining.

Among the initiatives highlighted was a $600 million contribution to a $1.8 billion Critical Minerals Consortium with Orion Resource Partners, alongside an additional $900 million in financing approved to expand mining and mineral projects intended to address what Black described as China's "strategic choke holds."

Black also said DFC had approved $1.5 billion for energy infrastructure across South and Southeast Asia to support the use of American liquefied natural gas and equipment in the region. He added that a telecommunications project in Kazakhstan would help replace Chinese equipment with "trusted service providers."

USTDA Deputy Director Thomas R. Hardy said his agency focuses on preparing infrastructure projects that attract private investment while strengthening resilient supply chains.

"We focus our work in the critical minerals, energy, transportation and digital infrastructure sectors because they are the backbone of resilient supply chains," Hardy said.

He cited projects along the Lobito Corridor in Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as infrastructure initiatives in the Philippines and Pacific island nations designed to offer "trusted alternatives to strategic competitors."

MCC Acting Chief of Staff Dan Petrie said the agency complements these efforts by improving roads, regulatory systems and investment conditions in partner countries.

"MCC lays the public sector foundation for private sector-led growth," Petrie said, adding that about "$1.3 billion of MCC's portfolio is contributing to US Critical minerals priorities."

Several Democratic lawmakers supported efforts to diversify supply chains but questioned whether the administration was placing excessive emphasis on geopolitical competition while scaling back broader development assistance.

Ranking Member Gregory Meeks argued that dismantling parts of US foreign aid had weakened America's ability to compete with China and said processing, not just mining, should remain a priority in critical mineral strategies.

Source: IANS