A bipartisan bill, introduced in the Senate on May 2, seeks to reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign minerals and develop a national electric vehicle supply chain policy. The American Minerals Security Act (S. 1317), which embraces part of a 2017 executive order by President Trump, would “facilitate the availability, development, and environmentally responsible production of domestic resources to meet national material or critical mineral needs[.]” The Act would require identification of critical minerals that are essential to the economic and national security of the U.S. and vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Further, the Act would require a nationwide assessment of the reserves of these critical mineral reserves. Perhaps most importantly, the Act would also create a more efficient process to obtain a permit for mining of critical minerals used in electric vehicle production.

The U.S. lags significantly behind China in the production of electric vehicle batteries, as the U.S. is heavily dependent on foreign processed minerals. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. is reliant on other countries for at least 50 percent of its supply of 48 minerals, and 100 percent of its supply of 18 minerals. Some of these minerals are domestically available, but underutilized. The U.S. has 13 percent of the world’s lithium reserves but last year the U.S. produced only 2 percent of the global lithium supply. Senator Murkowski (R-Alaska), a sponsor of the Act and chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee stated, “[t]his is our Achilles’ heel that serves to empower and enrich other nations, while costing us jobs and international competitiveness.” Indeed, of the $300 billion automakers are expected to spend in the electric vehicle sector over the next decade, the U.S. is positioned to receive $34 billion while China is projected to receive over $146 billion. The Act is a step towards addressing this disparity and strengthening the United States’ position in the electric vehicle supply chain.