Biden’s Interior Secretary Agrees: Electric Vehicles Increase US Reliance on China

Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden’s interior secretary, concedes that a shift toward electric vehicles (EVs) increases America’s reliance on China. This admittance comes as the administration puts an end to domestic mines that would otherwise produce the essential materials required for EV manufacturing.

During a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Republican congressman Guy Reschenthaler grilled Haaland on China’s control of the green energy supply chain. The communist nation controls the majority of the world’s “rare earth elements,” which are required for the production of EV batteries and other essential components. The congressman asked Haaland, “By deductive reasoning, that would mean that electric vehicles and renewables deepen our reliance on China, correct?” Haaland responded, “Yes, OK.”

As a cabinet official for Biden, Haaland has abolished mining projects in the US that could have reduced China’s grip on EV minerals. For instance, in January, Haaland issued a 20-year mining ban in a Minnesota area that holds 95% of the nation’s nickel reserves and 88% of its cobalt, both of which are critical parts of the green energy supply chain. Republicans argue that this decision deprived America of its ability to compete with China on strategic minerals, despite Biden’s longstanding promise to achieve this.

When asked if Haaland stands by her agreement that EVs increase America’s reliance on China, the Interior Department’s communication director, Melissa Schwartz, refused, stating that Haaland did not express this view. “She acknowledged what members were saying to her as a polite gesture,” Schwartz told the Washington Free Beacon.

Biden had announced his intention to appoint Haaland to run the Interior Department in December 2020, and he referred to her as a “barrier-breaking public servant” who would be “ready on day one to protect our environment and fight for a clean energy future.” Before her tenure in the Biden administration, Haaland was a Democratic congresswoman from New Mexico, where she repeatedly called for the ban of oil fracking and drilling on public lands.

The new oil leasing under Biden and Haaland has slowed to its lowest level since World War II, despite Haaland’s endorsement of the Green New Deal in a November 2018 tweet due to her status “as a Native American woman who’s [sic] ancestral homeland is under attack from the fossil fuel industry.”