1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Countering China’s Exploitation of Strategic Metals and Minerals and Child and Forced Labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Cobalt is an essential component of lithium-ion batteries, which are predominantly used for electric vehicles, smartphones, and laptops, among other electronic devices. According to the International Energy Agency, the world is expected to see a 40-fold increase in lithium demand and a 20-fold increase in cobalt demand by 2040, as the demand for electric vehicles is expected to grow significantly during this period. (2) In 2021, global sales of electric vehicles doubled compared to 2020, reaching its new record of 6.6 million, and bringing the total number of electric vehicles in use to 16.5 million electric vehicles by the end of 2021. The People’s Republic of China ( PRC ) accounted for half of those sales, with over 150 percent growth in electric vehicle sales in that country compared to 2020. In the first quarter of 2022, an additional 2 million electric vehicles were sold worldwide, showing strong continued growth. While Europe and the United States saw increased sales, the PRC experienced an unprecedented tripling of electric vehicle sales of 3.3 million in 2022, accounting for approximately one-half of the global sales. (3) The concentration of global cobalt supply and production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ) as well as civil unrest and governmental corruption, heighten the vulnerabilities and risks of global supply chain disruptions. More than one-half of the world’s cobalt resources are in the DRC, which supplies approximately 70 percent of the global cobalt mine production in 2021. The DRC remains beset by conflicts and pervasive official corruption. Firms based in the PRC hold a dominant position in DRC’s cobalt sector, according to the White House. On the foundation of an unstable state, more than one-half of lithium and cobalt global supplies are processed