President Joe Biden is considering invoking the Defense Production Act to boost the production of rare metals that are used for the batteries in electric cars, according to a report Wednesday from Bloomberg News. The Defense Production Act is a Cold War-era bill that allows the president to order private companies to manufacture materials to in response to national emergencies.

According to the report, the administration would add minerals like lithium, nickel, graphite, cobalt and manganese to the list of priority materials for production. It would also go towards helping mining firms access $750 million under the Defense Production Act’s Title III, which provides incentives for firms to comply with presidential directives.

Bloomberg reports that an announcement may be made as soon as Thursday, but the administration is still working to ensure production will include strong environmental and labor standards before it is issued.

By using the Defense Production Act to boost domestic battery production, the White House will be acting decisively to continue weaning the U.S. auto industry off its reliance on China for these products. China accounted for about 80% of U.S. lithium-ion battery imports, which is higher than the 50% recorded in late 2020, S&P Global reported in February.

The White House has long sought to boost production of electric vehicles. Biden has touted electric vehicle initiatives by the private sector while his administration has enacted new emissions standards intended to encourage firms to create cleaner vehicles.

Invoking the Defense Production Act is also likely to find support in Congress where individual members have been pushing for the U.S. to find new ways to reduce dependence on China for batteries. On March 11, a bipartisan group of senators penned a joint letter to Biden, urging him to use the act to ramp up production and processing of these rare earths rather than continue to rely on China.

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