This week, President Joe Biden touted his administration’s plan for a “Made in America” energy supply chain of critical rare earth mineral...
This week, President Joe Biden touted his administration’s plan for a “Made in America” energy supply chain of critical rare earth minerals in the face of growing tensions with China, which has a corner on the global market of the resource.
In an event at the White House on Tuesday, Biden announced that the Pentagon would be awarding a $35 million contract to U.S.-based MP Materials as part of an effort to “ensure that we can continue to build a future that’s made in America in a way that lives up to our values.”
There was only one problem.
The recipient of the government contract is a company that happens to be partly owned by Chinese investors and that the Department of Energy has warned its scientists against working with, The Washington Free Beacon reported on Wednesday.
Yeah, that definitely sounds like how China Joe would go about doing “Made in America,” don’t you think?
Good grief.
The Free Beacon reported that MP Materials has, in fact, “arguably allowed China to tighten its grip on the world’s rare earth minerals supply chain.”
“Shenghe Resources Holding, which is partially owned by the Chinese government, owns 8 percent of the company,” the report said.
Shenghe “spearheaded the deal in 2017 to help MP Materials purchase a mine at Mountain Pass, Calif., out of bankruptcy. The Chinese company is also MP Materials’s largest customer, accounting for nearly all of its $100 million annual revenue,” the Free Beacon reported.
And, as Reuters reported in 2020, during the Trump administration, DOE scientists were warned against collaborating with MP Materials because it is a “tenth-owned by a Chinese investor and relies heavily on Chinese sales and technical know-how, according to the company.”
“Clearly, the MP Materials ownership structure is an issue,” Tom Lagrasso of the DOE’s Critical Minerals Institute told Reuters at the time. “We’re going to allow the people in Washington to figure this out.”
These are not words that have aged well, as “the people in Washington” are now touting MP Materials as a means of ensuring a “Made in America” source of rare earth minerals.
You can’t make this stuff up.
“We can’t build a future that’s made in America if we ourselves are dependent on China for the materials that power the products of today and tomorrow,” Biden actually said during the virtual event, clarifying dutifully that “this is not anti-China or anti-anything else; it’s pro-American.”
No, anti-China it apparently is not, as the Pentagon continues to issue funding to a contractor partly owned by a Chinese company and reliant upon China for processing — as Reuters noted in 2020, the firm has been awarded substantial grants by the Department of Defense in the past as well.
To be fair, the president did have a warning to issue to firms such as MP Materials — but it had nothing to do with Chinese business ties, as it happens.
“Environmental protections are paramount,” Biden said. “We have to ensure that these resources actually benefit folks in the communities where they live, not just shareholders.”
Like the Chinese shareholders?
Because they’re undoubtedly benefitting from the Pentagon grants, and I would imagine they can’t help but be delighted that they’ve invested in a company that is being touted by the Biden White House as a “Made in America” answer to China’s dominance in the rare earth minerals industry.
This blunder simply serves to further highlight the well-stated need for the United States to invest more heavily in rare earth mining that is reliant on China.
Here’s the thing: MP Materials’ Mountain Pass mine happens to be our country’s only rare earth mine, so it’s all the more significant that Chinese investors have managed to gain control of part of this company as their motherland dominates the industry around the globe.
What’s more, Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer — which undoubtedly will be a blight on his legacy in office no matter how much worse he manages to disgrace the United States on the world stage between now and whenever it might be that he leaves office — also landed China with access to one of the largest lithium deposits in the world, as it is now under Taliban control and the terrorist regime has been more than ready to work with the rising global superpower to mine it.
It’s hard to see this “Made in America” vow as little more than a farce, as Biden has also committed to working toward the furtherance of our country’s reliance on electric vehicles by forcing more Americans to drive them and thus forcing our country to rely even more on China, which dominates the industry that produces the materials used to make the lithium batteries that power these zero-emissions vehicles.
Are you paying attention yet?
The Biden administration probably hopes you’re not — but it’s never been more important to read between the lines … and follow the money.
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