China

The recently-released Defense Industrial Base study, which once more has underscored the need for a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. resource policy, directed its focus on U.S. competitiveness primarily vis-à-vis China.

Already vast and resource-rich, the country has demonstrated an insatiable appetite for the world’s mineral resources and has pursued an aggressive strategy to gain access to the materials needed to meet the world’s largest population’s resource needs.

As the U.S. inches forward to formulate a long-overdue critical mineral resource strategy, our European trading partners across the Atlantic not sitting idly by.

Acutely aware of European resource dependencies, policy makers look at the European Union’s resource policy through the prism of the EU’s 2050 low-carbon vision – with a clear emphasis on two themes: the circular economy and battery technology.

To kick off the work week, here’s a video clip featuring Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission for energy policy, outlining these tenets of EU resource policy:

Thanks to @MarosSefcovic for his opening words at our #CircularCO2 conference! #Recycling, #decarbonisation & also #batteries – All must work together to secure Europe’s access to #rawmaterials. Watch below! pic.twitter.com/tia2uXETEh

— EU Metals (@Eurometaux) October 18, 2018

With the long-awaited Defense Industrial Base report finally released, analysts have begun pouring over the 146-pages-long document.

One of the first issue experts to offer commentary in a national publication was Jeff Green, president of Washington, D.C.-based government relations firm J.A. Green & Company, and member of the ARPN panel of experts.

Writing for Defense News, Green argues that the report – which outlines nearly 300 supply chain vulnerabilities and sounds the alarm on China represents a significant and growing risk to the supply of materials deemed strategic and critical to U.S. national security – provides “a significant step forward for the U.S. military.”

His rationale for this assessment is that the report “goes further than the Department of Defense has traditionally wanted to venture.”

Says Green:

“The report clearly identifies five macro factors that have weakened the defense industrial base, including the ‘Industrial Policies of Competitor Nations.’ Though U.S. manufacturing has declined for a variety of reasons, the report notes that China, in particular, has used illegal means to dominate critical global markets. These means include espionage, evasion of export controls, market access restrictions, subsidies, and dumping, among others.”

He adds:

“Fortunately, the report goes beyond problem identification to provide a Blueprint for Action. Though many of these are locked away in a classified annex to the report, the White House has provided some clues as to how it wishes to proceed.”

Green offers some commentary on some of the report’s suggested fixes, which, among others, include the creation of a “national industrial policy to support national security efforts,” an area in which he says the “Department of Defense has been deficient for decades.” Other suggestions include the encouraged “use of direct funding to target and support critical sectors of the supply chain,” as well as educational efforts and outreach to global allies.

The bottom line, according to Green, is:

“The Department of Defense and the White House have started an important conversation by doing the research to bring these problems to the foreground, and it will be up to Congress next year to provide the resources and legislation necessary to cure them.”

Last month, we highlighted how the exclusion of Rare Earths from the list of tariffs to be imposed on Chinese goods released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) earlier this summer spoke to the growing awareness of their strategic importance in the United States. However, Rare Earths were not the only items [...]

After a few years of relative quiet, Rare Earth Elements are back in the spotlight. Initially a target included on a provisional list of tariffs to be imposed on Chinese goods released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) earlier this summer, Rare Earth metals and their compounds have been excluded from the [...]

Followers of ARPN know that China is the big elephant in the room when it comes to the United States’ critical mineral resource supply issues.  As ARPN expert panel member Ned Mamula, an adjunct scholar in geosciences at the Center for the Study of Science, Cato Institute, and “Rare Mettle” author Ann Bridges write in [...]

If you haven’t had of Barite, you’re excused – even for avid followers of ARPN Barite is not among the first that come to mind of when you think of critical minerals. It has, however, attained that status with its inclusion in the Department of Interior’s list of 35 metals and minerals considered critical to [...]

As we have noted, the recently-signed John S. McCain (may he rest in peace) National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (H.R. 5515), stands as a missed opportunity to enact several meaningful mineral resource policy reforms. Nonetheless, one provision of the signed legislation marks an important development for the realm of resource policy – [...]

At ARPN, we have long argued that we need comprehensive mineral resource policy reform.  One of the main reasons we have finally seen some momentum on this front is the growing realization that there is a global race for the metals and minerals fueling 21st Century technology and our everyday lives — something that our [...]

Last week, the U.S. Government outlined plans to establish a sixth military branch – the United States Space Force.   According to Vice President Mike Pence, who announced the plans during a speech at the Pentagon, the new force would be led by a four-star commander, and funding in the federal budget would begin for [...]

At ARPN, we have long highlighted the inter-relationship between resource policy and trade policy. While more recently, we looked at tensions in our relationship with Canada over tariffs on aluminum and steel, other areas of concern are coming into focus. Mounting tensions over trade with China have brought the Rare Earths issue, with which ARPN [...]