Executives from US critical minerals producers urged Congress on Nov. 19 to level the playing field on trade, compress permitting timelines and enact policy that reduces reliance on China for critical minerals.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party called executives from MP Materials Corp., Lithium Americas Corp. and Niron Magnetics Inc. as witnesses for a hearing titled, "Predatory Pricing: How the Chinese Communist Party Manipulates Global Mineral Prices to Maintain Its Dominance."
The committee released a report on Nov. 12 that said China has interfered with the global prices of certain critical minerals. The report followed President Donald Trump's efforts to boost domestic manufacturing and the Commerce Department's national security investigation into imports of critical minerals. That probe launched in April.
China is the world's largest exporter of rare earths. Its mined production of rare earths comprised just over 69% of the global total in 2024, according to the US Geological Survey. China also holds strong positions in processing lithium, nickel and other critical minerals. Trump and former President Joe Biden have both sought to use federal authority to break that hold.
The witnesses told the House committee on Nov. 19 that the US government needs to deploy tools to neutralize predatory pricing and incentivize American companies to produce materials.
"Rare earths may be a small, upstream industry worth just tens of billions of dollars, but they underpin trillions in downstream economic activity and millions of jobs," said Matthew Sloustcher, MP Materials' executive vice president of corporate affairs and chief communications officer.
"AI, robotics, advanced semiconductors, electric vehicles, blenders, everything — these are the industries that are the backbone of the US economy," Sloustcher said.
Public-private partnerships
MP Materials operates Mountain Pass in California, the only rare earth mine and processing facility in the US. The company entered into a public-private partnership with the US Department of Defense in July that will increase rare earth magnet manufacturing capacity, and it announced a rare earths production deal alongside the DOD in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 19.
Sloustcher told the panel that this type of government involvement is "a clear signal of the importance of securing and acting to restore America's rare earths supply chain."
"These measures demonstrate how public-private partnerships can deliver national security benefits while creating opportunities for taxpayers and the federal government to share in the upside, rather than simply absorbing risk and losses," he said.
He encouraged lawmakers to support workforce development initiatives, compress permitting timelines for large-scale projects, pursue sectoral arrangements with US allies and reward American companies that source US-produced critical minerals and derivative products.
These actions are necessary in light of China's recent plans to expand export restrictions to cover overseas-manufactured items containing Chinese-origin materials or technologies, Sloustcher said. These restrictions were postponed as part of a one-year agreement with the US.
"China's export controls this year were a significant wake-up call," he said. "They disrupted supply chains, triggered factory shutdowns in the United States."
Need for price transparency
Lithium Americas CEO Jonathan Evans emphasized that lithium is a critical element for national security, but the US produces less than 1% of the global supply.
Lithium Americas is developing Thacker Pass, a fully integrated mining and processing operation in Nevada, as part of a joint venture with General Motors. It received a $2.23 billion loan from the Department of Energy for the project.
Chinese companies control roughly 70% of global lithium, using state-backed subsidies and predatory pricing, Evans said. This extends beyond the mining and processing of the raw material, but also to the manufacturing of critical components such as batteries.
"This is not merely an economic vulnerability. It poses a direct threat to national security," Evans said.
The US buys much of its lithium from Chile, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Evans said price transparency is one of the largest barriers in the market. Market-based price indexes have been undermined by Chinese-controlled platforms that lead global financial institutions to rely on distorted benchmarks, he said.
He emphasized the need for programs and tools to deliver true price transparency and prevent public capital markets from being dissuaded from financing projects.
"Securing America's lithium supply is about far more than research and development. It's about safeguarding the nation's economic future, the technological leadership and national security," Evans said.
Jonathan Rowntree, CEO of Niron Magnetics, urged Congress to establish federal procurement preferences for domestically manufactured magnets and work with allies for resources and processing capabilities. Niron produces the world's only permanent magnet that uses zero rare earths.
Rowntree also listed tax incentives that level the playing field for producers, tariff exemptions for manufacturing equipment and federal agencies prioritizing supply chain security over short-term cost savings as solutions to combating China's critical mineral dominance.
"The United States already has everything needed to build a secure, resilient, diversified magnet supply chain," Rowntree said.
China dominates rare earths supply chain
Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) said the Chinese government has "weaponized the rare earth supply chain against the United States."
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the committee, said China has the power to "unplug" the entire US economy.
"If these companies fail, the CCP wins," he said. "But if these companies succeed, we all win, and that includes the Chinese people themselves."
