Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
Rep. Chris Smith is planning a fresh push to enact legislation targeting foreign imports of cobalt for EV batteries.
Why it matters: The legislation could upend EV supply chains and force another political flare up over forced labor in China and the energy transition.
Driving the news: Smith told Axios he wants to get the legislation reintroduced "in a couple weeks" and hold another round of hearings.
- As Smith put it, he's got "two versions" of the proposal.
- One bill, which House Ways and Means advanced in a bipartisan vote last year, would require an investigation into forced and child labor at cobalt mining sites in Congo.
- Another would actually prohibit cobalt imports mined with forced labor under the 1930 Tariff Act.
What he's saying: Smith, the Africa subcommittee chair on House Foreign Affairs, said he's "not sure which one can carry the day."
