On Monday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose Fernandez stated that the U.S.’s push with other countries to diversify the supply of rare earth minerals will be done “in a way that’s going to adhere to the highest ESG principles.” But it would be a disaster to decouple from China on rare earth minerals and “In many ways, our trade with China has benefited both sides.
Fernandez said, [relevant remarks begin around 27:30] “We’ve put together the Minerals Security Partnership, thirteen countries, plus the E.U., to invest together, to exchange information together, to work on recycling as well, and to do it in a way that’s going to adhere to the highest ESG principles.”
Later, he added, “[W]e all recognize that we cannot decouple. Our trade is just too much, and in fact, in the last year, our commerce with China has actually increased, our numbers have increased. But we have to de-risk. And one of the ways that we do that is by diversifying our supply chains, whether it be vaccines or critical minerals. As long as you’re depending on just one or two suppliers, you may have a problem.
Co-host Joe Mathieu then played video of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying that decoupling from China would be a disaster, and asked, “Disastrous to try to decouple from China, does that go for rare earth minerals?” Fernandez responded, “I think that is correct in just about every aspect that you can think about. We are not looking to decouple. We’re looking to de-risk. We’re looking to diversify. In many ways, our trade with China has benefited both sides. What is it that we’re after? We’re after a level playing field for our companies in China. We’re also looking to try and make sure that we de-risk some of the more risky types of investments that we see out there.