By Holly Rooper
Originally Published May 28, 2026
The U.S. is fully import-reliant on at least 14 critical minerals, with China controlling roughly 60 percent of global production and 85 percent of processing capacity. No single country can address this alone.
That’s why the Council has developed a “Trade Tool Menu” of provisions for bilateral or plurilateral agreements, organized around four objectives:
- Enhance transparency and traceability to improve supply chain visibility and identify vulnerabilities
- Establish market stabilization mechanisms to protect firms from price and supply manipulation
- Align external trade measures to strengthen and diversify trade flows among partners
- Scale investment and demand signals to build viable alternatives to CCP-controlled supply chains
Each tool is assessed by mechanism, U.S. precedent, and application to critical minerals.