The United States gathered several other countries to sign an agreement countering China’s dominance in the rare earth minerals. Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Israel signed the agreement, called Pax Silica.
“The United States is organizing a coalition of countries around the principle of building a secure, resilient, and innovation-driven ecosystem across the entire global technology supply chain — from critical minerals and energy inputs to advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, and logistics,” the State Department explained. “Pax Silica is a new kind of international grouping and partnership – one that aims to unite the countries that host the world’s most advanced technology companies to unleash the economic potential of the new AI age.”
Countries in the agreement will share the commitment to address “AI supply chain opportunties,” including through critical minerals, semiconductors, energy grids, and other areas. Countries will also protect “sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure from undue access or control by countries of concern.”
A July report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) detailed that China controls more than 80% of the materials needed to make batteries used in the defense industry, serving as a significant threat to the United States.
China manufactures “80 percent of all lithium-ion batteries, but that dominance is only the tip of the iceberg,” the report’s authors write, going on to explain that batteries developed in other countries are also “deeply and dangerously dependent upon China for the underlying components and critical minerals in battery supply chains.”
Meanwhile, a major Arctic breakthrough in Alaska may dramatically weaken China’s long-standing dominance over rare earth minerals.
