The plan, part of a broader $100 billion industrial policy vision Harris’ campaign laid out Wednesday, also called for new incentives and the use of emergency government powers under the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to increase domestic processing of critical minerals.
“Increased domestic production will be paired with innovative and sustainable steps to build stronger critical mineral supply chains alongside our allies and partners, including by incentivizing investments that expand US and allied production of these resources,” the Harris campaign said in a statement. “These efforts will reduce our dependence on China, which leads production on many critical minerals.”
As part of the plan, the campaign said Harris was proposing “America Forward” tax credits to be used in the energy, manufacturing and agricultural sectors that would be “linked to the treatment of workers” and paid for in part by Harris’ proposal to overhaul the international tax system.
Critical minerals — which include dozens of materials including antimony, lithium, and cobalt — are those considered essential to the economy and at risk of supply disruption. The House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the US and the Chinese Communist Party in December recommended creating a reserve of critical minerals “to insulate American producers from price volatility” and protect against China’s “weaponization of its dominance in critical mineral supply chains.”
The committee also recommended spending $1 billion to expand an existing National Defense Stockpile, an inventory of critical minerals managed by the Defense Department that is used to provide emergency access to domestic manufacturers for defense purposes.
“Over the past several decades, China has cornered the market for processing and refining of key critical minerals, leaving the US and our allies and partners vulnerable to supply chain shocks and undermining economic and national security,” the White House said in a statement last week. “As the world builds a clean energy economy, demand for critical minerals is projected to grow exponentially.”
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