Washington, DC – On Tuesday, March 17, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) convened bipartisan lawmakers from Capitol Hill and the Administration with more than 100 business, military, and nonprofit leaders for a high-stakes event on how the United States can win the global critical minerals race.

Speakers included House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL); Congresswoman Young Kim (R-CA); Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA); Dan Petrie, Chief of Staff of the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC); Sam Kwon, General Counsel of the U.S. Trade & Development Agency (USTDA); Ambassador J. Peter Pham, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ivanhoe Atlantic; and Heather Kulp, Vice President of Government Affairs at Chevron.

A common theme emerged that international assistance through agencies like the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), the Export-Impact Bank (ExIm), and the U.S. Department of State are critical to America winning the global critical minerals race.

USGLC CEO and President Liz Schrayer laid out the stakes: “With China controlling 60% of global production and 90% of the rare earth processing – the threat couldn’t be more real to our national economic and security interests. I’ve heard time and again from our private sector coalition members that if we want to win in the world – do the same thing any good developer would do – utilize low-cost wrap around investments that promote stability, strengthen rule of law, fight corruption, and support an educated and healthy workforce. We don’t win when by showing up China’s way. We win by showing up the American way.”

Chairman Mast explained “why critical minerals are described as critical” because we need them “for our weapon systems, for our aircraft, for the ordnances that hang on the wings of our aircrafts, for components that we might need for advanced chips and AI.”

Congressman Bera underscored, “This isn’t a partisan issue – it’s a national security issue. It’s about protecting our economy. And if we want long-term investments to succeed, we have to demonstrate real economic benefits to the countries we’re partnering with. It’s clear the United States is the preferred investor, but we need to show up, stay engaged, and do so in a meaningful way.”

Congresswoman Kim spoke about the impetus for the bipartisan DOMINANCE Act: “We have wonderful economic statecraft. We have wonderful financing tools… but for a very long time, they’ve been fragmented and working without a cohesive strategy, and that’s when I realized we have to put together a strategy that will be long-term… We need to show our partners that the U.S. Congress is serious about critical minerals supply chain issues and that we’re going to utilize every tool that we have.”

Dan Petrie laid out the importance of wrap-around investments: “You want the best operating and regulatory environment possible…instead of just access to a mining site, you want the power, you want the roads, you want water, you want the transportation corridor. The surrounding infrastructure can make or break that opportunity…In short, you want stability and predictability and a level playing field… to win this race.”

Sam Kwon wrapped up by detailing a number of recent USTDA projects to strengthen supply chains in partner countries from the Philippines to Morocco: “I’ve been at USTDA for four years and one month and we’ve seen a remarkable increase in our focus on critical minerals projects… and more are coming.”

###