Ban or restrict foreign ownership of critical minerals

Here’s why:

Critical minerals are a key part of the Trump administration’s geopolitical strategy. This is likely behind his aggressive language about Canada, Greenland and Ukraine. Trump might be feeling desperate partially because China banned the export of key rare earth minerals to the U.S. last December and expanded these restrictions in response to Trump’s  tariffs on China.

Critical minerals are important for Canada too. Our country is home to large storehouses of these resources. Critical minerals are necessary to build domestic industries, advance reconciliation efforts with indigenous people, and grow our net zero economy – but only if we manage these resources properly.

The challenge is this: 30.3% of the Canadian mining and quarrying industry assets were foreign-owned in 2022, up from 27.1% in 2018. U.S.-owned assets in Canadian mining and quarrying accounted for 6.7%, up from 5.5% in 2017.

We have the tools in place to both guard and develop our critical resource industries, maximizing the benefit to Canada. In July 2024, the federal government announced restrictions on investments by foreign capital subject to a net benefit review.  As part of Canada’s 2022 Critical Mineral Strategy, the federal government announced increased scrutiny of foreign state-owned or state-influenced investments in the critical minerals sector under a new policy enacted through the Investment Canada Act (ICA). 

The time is now. While the most recent Critical Minerals Strategy Annual Report 2024 touts that there are over 150 active critical minerals projects across the country, between January 2023 and June 2024, just one critical mineral mine began commercial operations in Canada. One additional project received approval under the federal environmental impact assessment process and seven other proposals were being reviewed.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the market value of critical minerals – including those vital to the energy transition such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, copper, nickel and rare earth elements – is set to explode in the coming decade, despite recent price declines.