Congress Trump China rare earths minerals.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed creating a new agency with $2.5 billion to boost production of rare earths and the other critical minerals. This comes as the Trump administration takes aggressive steps to reduce reliance on China, which dominates the market for these materials. The Pentagon has spent nearly $5 billion over the past year to secure supply chains. The bill introduced Thursday by Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Todd Young aims to stabilize prices and encourage domestic and allied production. The U.S. is under pressure to cut its dependence on China, after a trade truce last year.