In yet another move he has made to combat Communist China, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the Critical Mineral Supply Chain Realignment Act of 2024 to incentivize safeguarding critical mineral supply chains from China.

The bill imposes mandatory tariffs on electromagnets, permanent magnets, batteries, solar panels, and solar wafers at rates of:

“The U.S. and its partners must end Communist China’s critical mineral industrial monopoly. My bill will provide more certainty to industry based in the U.S. and partner and ally countries so they may be able to develop a critical mineral industrial ecosystem China’s market manipulations cannot undercut,” Rubio stated.

Last November, Rubio joined Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA) to lead a call for action to secure supply chains and reduce U.S. reliance on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for minerals that are inputs for critical technologies.

The two lawmakers led a bipartisan group of senators who wrote a letter to the White House that stated:

Demand for critical minerals is growing exponentially, yet the U.S. substantially lags behind its adversaries in securing critical mineral supply chains. In fact, in many cases China controls nearly 100 percent of the end-to-end supply chain, and is actively seeking to maintain and increase its control of these resources around the globe. …

Focusing the efforts of the U.S. government, in coordination with our allies, upon standing up processing, refining, and metallurgical capacity must be a priority if we are going to succeed in reducing our reliance on China for critical minerals.

Rubio and Warner also wrote a letter to the Chair of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) pushing for EXIM to secure critical mineral supply chains, noting, “The stakes of our economic struggle with the PRC (People’s Republic of China) demands that we reduce our dependence on them in critical technology sectors and for critical goods, especially those with defense and energy applications.”