WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States is positioning India as a central pillar in its strategy to counter China’s dominance over rare earth minerals and advanced technology supply chains, a senior State Department official told lawmakers during a congressional hearing on economic security.
Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment Jacob Helberg said India has formally joined the U.S.-led Pax Silica coalition, an initiative focused on securing critical mineral, semiconductor, and artificial intelligence supply chains among allied nations.
“Just last week we welcomed India into the fold,” Helberg told lawmakers, describing Pax Silica as “an economic security coalition for the AI century designed to secure the supply chain infrastructure that underlies national power.”
Helberg said control over the industrial foundations of artificial intelligence will determine global leadership in the decades ahead. “The nation that controls the industrial foundations of artificial intelligence will lead this century. The nation that doesn’t will depend on those who do,” he said.
He highlighted India’s strategic value, pointing to its deep talent pool and significant role in mineral processing. “India is probably the only country in the world that rivals China in terms of the depth of its human capital and talent,” Helberg said, adding that India is also the world’s third-largest mineral refiner.
China, he noted, currently accounts for “somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90 per cent of the world’s refining capacity,” calling such concentration a “fundamental challenge” that Washington is racing to address.
According to Helberg, the U.S. strategy involves expanding refining capacity in allied nations through brownfield projects and channeling private investment into mining and mineral processing in countries including India, Australia, and South Korea. He said the approach blends economic coordination, export controls, and supply-chain diversification to counter what he described as Beijing’s strategic use of trade and industrial policy.
“China has not made a secret of its plans and intentions to decouple from us,” Helberg said. “The question is, are we comfortable staying dependent on them while they actively try to decouple from us?”
While the hearing revealed sharp partisan disagreements over U.S. tariff policy, there was broad bipartisan concern over China’s dominance in critical minerals and advanced manufacturing. Helberg said 55 countries recently participated in a U.S.-led critical minerals ministerial aimed at identifying alternatives to Chinese-controlled supply chains.
He also pointed to a recent U.S.-India joint statement on trade that includes what he described as historic energy purchases by India from the United States and increased cross-border investment. “I’m incredibly confident in the trajectory of the U.S.-Indian relationship,” Helberg said. “It’s incredibly strong.”
For India, the remarks reflect growing recognition in Washington of New Delhi’s role in shaping the next phase of global competition in technology and supply chains. The two countries have steadily expanded cooperation in recent years on critical and emerging technologies, alongside broader strategic engagement in the Indo-Pacific. (Source: IANS)
