H.R. 6696 — Restoring American Mineral Security Act of 2025

This section states the sense of Congress that (1) a reliable supply chain of critical minerals is essential to U.S. defense, manufacturing, and energy needs; (2) as of enactment, the United States is heavily dependent on China for production and processing of key critical minerals; (3) China has weaponized its dominance by creating overcapacity and selling below-market to gain market share; (4) the United States must use trade tools, in coordination with trading partners, to combat these non-market policies; and (5) an alliance of trusted trading partners can counter China's oversupply and market manipulation while promoting U.S. critical minerals industry growth.

This section defines nine terms for purposes of the Act: (1) appropriate congressional committees as the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Ways and Means; (2) critical mineral as any mineral on the list required by section 7002(c)(3) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(c)); (3) derivative product as a good incorporating a critical mineral (e.g., semiconductor wafers, permanent magnets, electric vehicle batteries, or wind turbine components); (4) excluded duty as antidumping or countervailing duties under the Tariff Act of 1930, safeguard measures under the Trade Act of 1974, or certain dispute settlement duties; (5) foreign country of concern as defined in section 9901 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651), including Venezuela; (6) foreign entity of concern as defined in such section 9901, modified to apply the "foreign country of concern" standard; (7) processed, with respect to a critical mineral, as the activities after extraction through conversion into metal, metal powder, or master alloy; (8) select derivative product as a permanent magnet, lithium-ion electric vehicle battery, lithium-ion non-electric vehicle battery, or non-lithium-ion battery part; and (9) Trade Representative as the United States Trade Representative.

This section authorizes the U.S. Trade Representative, in consultation with specified agencies and congressional committees, to negotiate with eligible countries to establish the Critical Minerals Security Alliance for a reliable supply chain of critical minerals (i.e., those on the list required by section 7002(c)(1) of the Energy Act of 2020). A country is eligible if it (1) imposes duties on mined and processed critical minerals and select derivative products from foreign countries of concern (e.g., China) at rates matching U.S. section 301 duties effective January 1, 2026, phases them in over no more than five years, or adopts comparable trade remedies; (2) commits to regular Alliance meetings and capacity reviews; (3) eliminates duties on such imports from other members (except excluded duties); (4) addresses unfair trade practices, transshipment, forced labor, and investments via mechanisms at least as robust as U.S. authorities; (5) establishes joint threat mechanisms; (6) discusses broader economic security; and (7) coordinates on duties for products from foreign entities of concern. The Trade Representative must certify eligible countries to Congress with reports on compliance and the country's critical minerals sector (serving as notice of intent to admit), seek supply chain coverage for at least 90% of listed critical minerals and 100% of select derivative products, and admit countries via enacted joint resolution of approval or automatically after 90 days absent a joint resolution of disapproval. Upon a country's admission, its mined and processed critical minerals and select derivative products enter the United States duty-free (except excluded duties).

This section imposes duties on imports into the United States of mined and processed critical minerals and select derivative products sourced from a foreign country of concern, equivalent to the rates applicable to such products from the People's Republic of China under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (i.e., duties imposed by the U.S. Trade Representative for unfair trade practices). These duties take effect upon entry into force of the first agreement admitting a country into the Critical Minerals Security Alliance under section 4 of this Act and are set at rates in effect on January 1, 2026.

This section establishes in the Treasury a trust fund, consisting of amounts transferred from the general fund equivalent to duties collected on mined and processed critical minerals imported into the United States—beginning in the first fiscal year a country is admitted to the Critical Minerals Security Alliance under section 4 and in each fiscal year thereafter while foreign countries remain Alliance members—with such transfers made not less frequently than quarterly. The Secretary of the Treasury must invest excess amounts in U.S. obligations, crediting interest and proceeds to the fund. Amounts in the trust fund are available without further appropriation as follows: (1) 60 percent to the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office for projects relating to mining or processing critical minerals or manufacturing select derivative products; (2) 20 percent to the Department of Defense for the same types of projects; and (3) 20 percent to the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for international critical mineral projects in Alliance member countries. (As background, DFC provides financing, insurance, and other support for development projects, generally limited to less developed countries (i.e., those with low-, lower-middle-, or upper-middle-income economies, as defined by the World Bank).) For DFC support under the trust fund, this section waives restrictions under the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development (BUILD) Act of 2018—including the general prohibition on support for projects in high-income economies and section 1412(c)(2)—to allow support in upper-middle-income or high-income economies, subject to a presidential certification to specified congressional committees that such support furthers U.S. national economic or foreign policy interests, produces developmental benefits or counters strategic competitors in allies or partners, and involves either U.S. entity participation or at least 50 percent of project-produced critical minerals offered first to the Department of Defense and U.S. entities.