CRITICAL MATERIALS' SUPPLY CHAINS AND US NATIONAL SECURITY

The COVID-19 crisis and the Special Military Operation in Ukraine have showed how quickly and deeply global supply chains can be disrupted. This is especially true for critical and strategic materials. Many of these raw materials are critical to the European and US economies. They form a strong industrial base, participating in the production of a wide range of goods used in everyday life and modern technologies. Reliable and unfettered access to certain raw materials is a growing concern in the United States and around the world. Success in transforming and modernizing economies depends on the sustainable supply of primary and secondary raw materials needed to scale up clean and digital technologies in all industrial ecosystems. One of the lessons of the COVID-19 crisis is the need to reduce dependency and strengthen the diversity and security of supply of critical raw materials. The expansion of strategic self-sufficiency is a priority of the long-term policy of the US and the EU. This article highlights the challenges and priorities for the United States to strengthen its strategic approach to building more sustainable commodity value chains. Strategic self-sufficiency, therefore, should, in the opinion of American and European experts, be based on diversified access to world commodity markets. At the same time, in order to reduce external dependence, the problem of rapidly growing global demand for resources is proposed to be solved by reducing and reusing materials. Achieving resource security requires action to diversify supply from primary and secondary sources, reduce dependency, and improve resource efficiency. This applies to all types of raw materials, including base metals, industrial minerals, and biotic materials.