US Urged to Push Allies to Impose ‘CFIUS-Style’ Restrictions on Chinese Critical Mineral Firms
The U.S. should persuade other countries to limit Chinese investments in critical mineral industries, similar to restrictions overseen by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the Commerce Department’s Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee said in a recent letter to Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
The committee said U.S. environmental technologies need the critical minerals that are often mined in the U.S. before being sent to China for processing, which creates “vulnerabilities in supply chain security.” Along with continuing to restrict Chinese entities from investing in American critical mineral sites, the U.S. should “coordinate with allies to mirror CFIUS-style restrictions on China and other countries of concern in acquiring mines, refineries, or technology.”
The administration also should strengthen cooperation with trade partners, such as the Quad or Group of Seven, to create a new critical minerals alliance, the committee said. It added that “phasing in restrictions on the export of minerals mined on Federal lands to countries not party to such an alliance would help to ensure U.S. mineral resources are available to support U.S. industry.”
By working more closely with policymakers, industry leaders and other countries, Commerce “can create a unified pathway toward a long-term, secure future for critical mineral supply chains that reduces our current dependence on Chinese mineral processing to support U.S. environmental technology exports,” it said.