A new bipartisan report from the Select Committee on Strategic Competition argues that China has spent decades manipulating global mineral prices to solidify its geopolitical dominance. The committee notes an urgent national security threat that demands immediate action.

The report, published on Wednesday, outlines how Beijing built a system that enables price control. These levers include subsidies, legal controls, and price-reporting pressures.

According to its findings, China’s state-backed strategy has “systematically undercut competitors and distorted the global minerals markets” by providing tens of billions in subsidized credit, pushing down prices for key inputs like lithium, and using laws that prohibit objective prices to keep foreign exchanges in line.

Also Read: US Says China Agreed To ‘Effectively Eliminate’ Restrictions On Rare Earth Mineral Exports Following Trade Truce

China’s “Predatory” Practices

“China’s predatory practices have caused American job losses, driven American miners out of business, and jeopardized national security,” said Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI).

The committee’s analysis describes a coordinated strategy that dates back to Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 declaration that “there is oil in the Middle East, there is rare earth in China.”

As the report recounts, China leveraged that worldview into a decades-long plan to weaponize critical mineral supply chains, primarily by subsidizing overseas acquisitions with zero-interest loans and pushing rivals into unprofitability through below-cost pricing.

The report also highlights China’s 1998 Pricing Law, which lets Beijing accuse companies of manipulation if their published prices deviate from the Party’s preferred levels. This approach effectively granted the CCP veto power over price discovery.

The committee warns that China’s October 2025 export licensing regime for rare earths “didn’t happen overnight,” but was “the culmination of policies, investments, and maneuvers built over decades.”

By asserting control over any supply chain containing even a trace of Chinese rare earths, the report argues, China’s President Xi Jinping has “actualized Deng’s vision.” The trend placed global supply chains “in grave peril” and gave the U.S. its own “call to action.”

Policy Recommendations for U.S. Mineral Security

The committee formed several policy recommendations to address the issue. One is establishing a national “Critical Minerals Czar.” The goal would be to unify industrial policy, strengthen domestic mining and recovery, and explore temporary minimum import prices.

Another advice is the formation of a Strategic Resource Reserve to stabilize supply, and coordination with allies on mineral recycling. It would also involve a National Center for Rare Earths to expand the U.S. workforce. The workforce has been one of the silent issues in the industry. McKinsey’s 2023 report showed a 39% drop in domestic mining graduations since 2016.

Regulatory Scrutiny

Still, everything suggests that regulatory scrutiny will intensify. The U.S. House of Representatives is questioning Morgan Stanley’s role in Zijin Gold’s (OTC:ZIJMF) Hong Kong IPO, per Reuters.

Zijin is on a U.S. government-banned list over alleged human-rights abuses, and lawmakers are concerned about whether a domestic institution may be inadvertently facilitating CCP-linked expansion into minerals markets.

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