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Why Kamala Harris says we need a national reserve for critical minerals

Kamala Harris wants to help secure steady supplies of cobalt, lithium, and nickel as she pursues a re-industrialization policy that differs from Joe Biden’s approach in some key ways.

A recent promise that embodies this approach is her proposed establishment of a "national reserve" of critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel — the crucial building blocks in everything from electric vehicle batteries to jet engines to medical devices. This idea, which was floated last week in a paper from the Harris campaign, is part of a larger reindustrialization strategy from the Democratic nominee that embraces a Joe Biden-led effort to reimagine the US government's relationship with manufacturers while also differing from the president’s approach in terms of tactics, incentives, and focus. Jennifer Harris added that it's part of a necessary second act for government in industry, focused on "the unsexy work of ... fixing a ton of supply-and-demand mismatches at each point of a usually pretty long-falling supply chain that are going to require new policy tools."

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