Stevens: “With critical minerals, we cannot and should not be at the mercy of China.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – ICYMI, Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens is leading the charge to strengthen domestic supply chains, invest in recycling and refining capacity, and ensure Michigan remains at the forefront of manufacturing. 

Stevens underscored the need for federal action to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals that power everything from smartphones to medical equipment. Last summer, Stevens introduced the Unearth America's Future Act, comprehensive legislation to reshore production, support innovation, and create good-paying jobs. 

Here's what Michiganders are reading about Haley's leadership in confronting China's grip on critical minerals and advancing solutions that strengthen our economy and national security: 

Michigan Public: How recycling might help the US break China's grip on critical minerals

By: Sarah Cwiek 

Feb 3rd, 2026

Your smartphone. The MRI machine at a hospital. Precision-guided missiles.

Those are just some of the many modern technologies that share small but vital components called critical minerals. And currently, China has a near-monopoly on the entire supply chain for most of them.

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But there’s a problem: China controls almost everything from mining and refining rare earth minerals, to making those vital magnets. That means that if China restricts critical mineral exports — as indeed it has within the past year — it could spell major trouble for the U.S. economy and national security. And that worries a lot of the country’s lawmakers.

Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens is one of them. The Oakland County Democrat said the U.S. needs to do for critical minerals what it did for semiconductors and microchips under the Biden administration: make some big moves to bring that supply chain back onshore.

“That’s what I want to see,” Stevens said. “With critical minerals, we cannot and should not be at the mercy of China.”

Stevens said that’s why she introduced legislation to bolster the domestic critical mineral supply chain in Michigan and the U.S. last year. The Unearth America’s Future Act would use the tax code, public-private partnerships, and other means to promote bringing more of that production and refining capacity back to this country.

But what about all those smartphones and other products we have with critical minerals already in them? Couldn’t recycling them help us get at least partway toward reducing our dependence on China?

Stevens’ answer to that question is a resounding yes. But, she added: “This isn't necessarily 20th-century recyclability. These are more complex processes that take actual products and bring them back down to their mineral form.”

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