US Critical Mineral Import Dependence

The US is dangerously dependent on imports for many of the raw and processed minerals essential to modern manufacturing, defense, and clean energy technologies. The vast majority of these essential minerals are sourced from China–and that’s no accident. China has successfully executed a decades-long plan to build a state-backed mineral processing sector with massive capacity, subsidized financing, and lower production costs than its US competitors. The US has no near-term domestic alternative for this, even considering source diversification from non-FEOC countries. For minerals like Yttrium, Gallium, Cesium, Arsenic, Graphite, and other rare earth elements, the US is nearly 100% import-reliant, with China representing the single largest import chokepoint. Across many critical minerals tracked by the US Geological Survey (USGS), China sits at or near the top of the US import supply chain.

The chart below lays this exposure bare. Each bar represents 100% of US apparent consumption, broken out into three segments: domestic production (orange), imports from China (dark blue), and imports from other countries (blue). We also highlight the total US consumption volume for each mineral. The Net Import Reliance (NIR) figure on the right indicates the extent to which the US relies on imports for that mineral. 

Across the full set of minerals tracked below, the pattern is consistent and striking–domestic supply is limited or non-existent for many of our most essential minerals, and China controls an outsized share of foreign imports.