Critical Minerals Trade Security Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6659 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6659

       To establish within the Office of the United States Trade 
  Representative a Chief Critical Minerals Negotiator, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 11, 2025

 Mr. Moore of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. McGuire, Mr. Barr, and 
 Mr. Lawler) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To establish within the Office of the United States Trade 
  Representative a Chief Critical Minerals Negotiator, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Critical Minerals Trade Security 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Critical minerals, including rare earth elements, are 
        essential for national security and economic resilience.
            (2) Processed critical minerals and their derivative 
        products are key building blocks of the defense industrial base 
        of the United States and integral to applications such as jet 
        engines, missile guidance systems, advanced computing, radar 
        systems, advanced optics, and secure communications equipment.
            (3) The United States remains heavily dependent on foreign 
        sources of critical minerals which exposes the economy and 
        defense sector to supply chain disruptions and economic 
        coercion.
            (4) Foreign producers of critical minerals have engaged in 
        price manipulation, overcapacity, and arbitrary export 
        restrictions, using their supply chain dominance as a tool for 
        geopolitical and economic leverage over the United States.

SEC. 3. CHIEF CRITICAL MINERALS NEGOTIATOR.

    Section 141 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2171(b)) is amended 
as follows:
            (1) In subsection (b)(2)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ``one Chief 
                Critical Minerals Negotiator,'' after ``one Chief 
                Agricultural Negotiator,''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``the Chief Critical Minerals 
                Negotiator,'' after ``the Chief Agricultural 
                Negotiator,'' each place it appears.
            (2) In subsection (c), by adding at the end the following 
        new paragraph:
    ``(7) The principal functions of the Chief Critical Minerals 
Negotiator shall be to conduct trade negotiations regarding critical 
minerals, enforce trade agreements relating to United States critical 
minerals resources, take appropriate action to address the acts, 
policies, or practices of trade partners with respect to critical 
minerals, and lead the coordination of the Office's critical minerals 
policy in consultation with the following individuals:
            ``(A) The Secretary of State or his designee.
            ``(B) The Secretary of Energy or his designee.
            ``(C) The Secretary of the Interior or his designee.
            ``(D) Any other individual the United States Trade 
        Representative determines appropriate.''.
            (3) By adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Annual Report by Chief Critical Minerals Negotiator.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than September 30, 2026, and 
        annually thereafter, the Chief Critical Minerals Negotiator 
        shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees, and 
        concurrently publish on a publicly available website of the 
        United States Trade Representative, a report that--
                    ``(A) describes in detail the results of a review 
                with respect to the acts, policies, and practices 
                relating to the trade in critical minerals in the 
                preceding fiscal year of countries determined by such 
                negotiator to--
                            ``(i) have a significant trade relationship 
                        with the United States; or
                            ``(ii) pose a risk to the supply chains of 
                        the United States; and
                    ``(B) determines whether each such act, policy, or 
                practice reviewed under subparagraph (A)--
                            ``(i) creates a supply chain vulnerability 
                        which would be detrimental to the United States 
                        defense, energy, and critical infrastructure 
                        sectors; or
                            ``(ii) violates, is inconsistent with, or 
                        otherwise denies the United States of a benefit 
                        under a bilateral or multilateral trade 
                        agreement with such identified country; and
                    ``(C) provides an update for each plan previously 
                submitted under paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Response to adverse actions.--Not later than 30 days 
        after the submission of the report under paragraph (1), the 
        Chief Critical Minerals Negotiator shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a plan to respond to the 
        findings of the report, including any action taken under title 
        III of this Act, to each act, policy, or practice identified in 
        such report that was determined under paragraph (1)(B) to 
        violate, be inconsistent with, or otherwise deny to the United 
        States a benefit under a bilateral or multilateral trade 
        agreement with such identified country or create a supply chain 
        vulnerability which would be detrimental to the United States 
        defense, energy, and critical infrastructure sectors.
            ``(3) Appropriate congressional committees defined.--In 
        this subsection, the term `appropriate congressional 
        committees' means Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate.''.
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