China’s economic grip alarms US Congress
Washington, July 15 (IANS) US lawmakers and experts have warned that China’s grip over critical minerals, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing poses a serious economic security threat, while cautioning that Washington’s sweeping tariffs could weaken alliances needed to compete with Beijing.
A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on economic security zones and US investment abroad exmained the Pax Silica initiative, which seeks to build trusted supply chains with American allies and partners.
Subcommittee Chairman Cory Mills said the country controlling advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, semiconductors and artificial intelligence would shape the global economy and balance of power for decades.
Michael Holloman, chief commercial officer of US Strategic Metals, said Washington had allowed Beijing to gain control over essential mineral supply chains.
“I’ve watched this cold minerals war simmer without our participation,” he said. “I’ve watched the Chinese beat us everywhere we’ve been, not because we couldn’t do anything about it, because we didn’t participate in the war that was ongoing.”
Holloman said the US could not produce a fighter jet, data centre, electric-vehicle battery or smartphone without materials moving directly or indirectly through China.
“This is not a matter of preference,” he said. “It is a matter of dependency, one that has hardened into a strategic vulnerability that grows worse every year we fail to act.”
About 75 per cent of global cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Holloman said, with a higher share processed in China. The US is completely dependent on imports for 13 critical minerals and more than 50 per cent dependent for another 20.
Clark Packard, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, said China’s dominance was a genuine vulnerability. He cited tungsten, which is used in missiles, semiconductors, aerospace components and armour-piercing munitions.
“China controls about 80 per cent of the global supply chain,” he said.
Packard said Beijing’s near-total embargo in 2025 on exports of seven rare-earth elements and magnets disrupted US semiconductor and defence supply chains. A Ford assembly plant in Chicago shut for a week because of a shortage of rare-earth magnets, he said.
But Packard warned that broad US tariffs could undermine efforts to build a coalition against Beijing. He said tariffs strained relations with trusted partners and increased costs for American manufacturers.
“That is a gift to Beijing, which is happy to present itself as a more reliable economic trading partner,” he said. “We need to open doors to friends and allies, not hide behind tariff walls.”
Paul Sullivan, president of international business at Acrow Bridge, said Chinese companies frequently entered overseas markets with subsidised finance, bundled projects and diplomatic support that private American companies could not match.
China has built a commanding position in the mining and processing of minerals required for defence systems, electronics, batteries and clean-energy technologies. Western governments have increasingly sought alternative suppliers and processing facilities in friendly countries.
–IANS
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