This report discusses China's efforts to improve and increase its access to foreign mineral resources, which may have the effect of raising prices for U.S. domestic industrial users. The report examines in detail the relationship between prices, production, and availability of selected metal minerals essential to the U.S. economy. It focuses on iron ore, aluminum (bauxite/alumina), copper, manganese, molybdenum (moly), zinc, platinum group metals (PGMs), and uranium.

U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several years. China is now the third largest U.S. trading partner, its second largest source of imports, and its fourth largest export market. However, U.S.-China commercial ties have been strained by a number of issues, including a surging U.S. trade deficit with China, China's refusal to float its currency, and failure to fully comply with its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, especially its failure to provide protection for U.S. intellectual property rights (IPR). This report explores these issues in detail, especially concerning the lack of protection for U.S. IPR.