Policy researcher says critical minerals markets remain market-oriented despite state backing by China at congressional briefing

Trivium China Associate Director Cory Combs discusses how the United States should prioritize access to lowest-risk reserves rather than the greatest reserves, seeking partners who could help with supply chain integration to reduce risk mitigation costs, noting that critical minerals were largely undifferentiated commodities operating in unusual but still market-oriented ecosystems where China's primary interest was ensuring its downstream industries had low-cost materials to remain competitive while still benefiting from some competition, concluding that the US needed to operate within this ecosystem by focusing on low-cost, low-risk sources through partnerships and innovations that remained price competitive at a US-China Economic and Security Review Commission briefing on risks of Chinese components and critical minerals in global energy infrastructure.