Mountain Pass, CA—This week, House Foreign Affairs East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee Chairwoman Young Kim (CA-40) held a roundtable at the Nixon Library on strengthening our U.S. critical minerals supply chain and led a site visit to MP Materials’ Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine, the only large-scale rare earth mining and processing facility in the United States.
Rep. Kim led the first congressional visit to the mine since the Department of Defense initiated a multibillion-dollar public-private partnership with MP Materials and Apple pledged $500 million to advance U.S.-made rare earth magnets for its devices. These commitments will help reduce U.S. reliance on China for rare earth elements and secure America’s most sensitive defense supply chains.
“We cannot rely on the Chinese Communist Party to power our most critical technologies and defense systems,” said Rep. Young Kim. “China’s move to restrict critical minerals supplies on April 4 was a sucker punch to U.S. industries and a wake-up call to Washington. As Chairwoman of the East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee, I remain laser focused on protecting our economy and national security by building secure, resilient supply chains that Xi Jinping can’t lay a finger on.”
Photos courtesy of MP Materials are available HERE.
