Australia’s resources minister said it was a “pipe dream” that Western countries could soon end their reliance on China for rare earths and critical minerals — vital for the defense, aerospace and automotive industries — due to the Asian powerhouse’s existing grip on global markets.
“That’s a country that has seen this need coming and made the most of it,” Resources Minister Madeleine King told Bloomberg News in an interview.
That won’t stop Australia and the U.S. from working together to boost investment in these critical minerals in an attempt to break China’s monopoly on international supply chains, King said. It was Canberra’s aim to “make the most of the natural endowment we have of these resources, so that we can provide an alternative source of them from China,” she added.
