Overview
- The 50-page report alleges decades of state-led subsidies, legal controls, and pressure on price-reporting to steer prices for lithium and rare earths.
- The panel recommends temporary minimum import prices, tighter oversight of price-reporting agencies, creation of a critical minerals czar, and a strategic reserve.
- Chinese officials and experts reject the accusations as politically driven and defend recent export-control measures as lawful security steps, while the LME says its prices reflect transparent international trading.
- The report cites IEA data showing China controls roughly 60% of mining and more than 90% of refining for key minerals and references about $57 billion in subsidies and concessional finance.
- Coverage notes a recent trade truce that included easing rare-earth export controls, even as U.S. lawmakers escalate scrutiny of minerals markets and related financial activity.