A bipartisan group of lawmakers have proposed creating a new agency with $2.5 billion to spur production of rare earths and the other critical minerals, while the Trump administration has already taken aggressive actions to break China's grip on the market for these materials that are crucial to high-tech products, including cellphones, electric vehicles, jet fighters and missiles…It’s too early to tell how the bill, if passed, could align with the White House’s policy, but whatever the approach, the U.S. is in a crunch to drastically reduce its reliance on China, after Beijing used its dominance of the critical minerals market to gain leverage in the trade war with Washington…The Pentagon has shelled out nearly $5 billion over the past year to help ensure its access to the materials after the trade war laid bare just how beholden the U.S. is to China, which processes more than 90% of the world's critical minerals. To break Beijing's chokehold, the U.S. government is taking equity stakes in a handful of critical mineral companies and in some cases guaranteeing the price of some commodities using an approach that seems more likely to come out of China's playbook instead of a Republican administration…The bill that Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., introduced Thursday would favor a more market-based approach by setting up the independent body charged with building a stockpile of critical minerals and related products, stabilizing prices, and encouraging domestic and allied production to help ensure stable supply not only for the military but also the broader economy and manufacturers…When Trump imposed widespread tariffs last spring, Beijing fought back not only with tit-for-tat tariffs but severe restrictions on the export of critical minerals, forcing Washington to back down and eventually agree to the truce when the leaders met in South Korea…On Wednesday, Trump announced in a proclamation that the U.S. is “too reliant” on foreign-sourced critical minerals and directed his administration to negotiate better deals. He said possible remedies would include minimum import prices for certain critical minerals…The drastic move by the U.S. government to take equity stakes has prompted some analysts to observe that Washington is pivoting to some form of state capitalism to compete with Beijing…Companies across the industry are welcoming the intervention from Trump's administration…On Monday, finance ministers from the G7 nations huddled in Washington over their vulnerability in the critical mineral supply chains…U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has led several rounds of trade negotiations with Beijing, urged attendees to increase their supply chain resiliency and thanked them for their willingness to work together “toward decisive action and lasting solutions,” according to a Treasury statement.

Congolese state-owned miner Gecamines has proposed acquiring Chemaf SA, before bringing in a new majority shareholder, as interest in the troubled copper and cobalt producer intensifies…The fate of Trafigura Group-backed Chemaf has taken on a significance beyond its modest output of metals because the company is building one of the world’s biggest cobalt mines and holds dozens of untapped licenses. At the same time, Chemaf has also come to symbolize the growing competition between the US and China for critical minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo…Chemaf abandoned a sale in March to a Chinese firm after Congo withheld the necessary approvals. Gecamines now wants to buy heavily indebted Chemaf for a maximum of $1 million, and then transfer most of the shares to a new investor, according to people familiar with the matter…Under the plan, Gecamines would market Chemaf’s production to US buyers and hold a 5% so-called “free carry” stake in the company, according to a document seen by Bloomberg and a person familiar. The state miner would also seek to fund an additional shareholding of at least 20%...Gecamines’ move to guide the transaction has coincided with a deepening collaboration between Congo and the US on mining. The countries signed an agreement last month giving American investors preferential access to some of the central African nation’s abundant reserves of minerals including copper, cobalt and lithium…The state miner is influential in the process because it owns a permit Chemaf leases for its Mutoshi project. 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni agreed on Monday to expand cooperation in sectors such as artificial intelligence, aerospace, chips and critical minerals, according to the Blue House…The two leaders also agreed to intensify joint efforts to develop resilient and reliable critical mineral supply chains, the statement said.