American senators will soon study ways to strengthen the energy and mineral partnership between Canada and the US..The US Senate committee on energy and natural resources will hold a hearing in Washington on Tuesday to examine the partnership as a means to address energy security and climate objectives..Opening remarks will be given by Senator Joe Manchin who visited Alberta last month to discuss energy security in North America. Manchin has also invited Premier Jason Kenney to testify at the Senate Energy Committee..During his visit on April 12, Manchin said the US is hiding behind the cheapest products produced by other countries, including dirty energy and slave labour minerals extracted from China..“And then we’re buying the product, thinking everything’s great. I’m an environmentalist because I’ve got a car here that was sourced through slave labour,” he said..“Ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. So it’s time for us to really man-up to what our responsibilities are.”.The senator also said the war in Ukraine is a wake-up call for the free world to rely on each other for resources. Specifically, he said the free world should be relying on the US and Canada to provide the products and resources it needs..For example, he said 80% of America’s processed minerals are coming from China..“We saw what Putin has done to weaponize energy and how he has used it on Europe,” Manchin said..“I don’t want to see what China could do to us by weaponizing the critical minerals that we’re dependent on.”
