In a direct challenge to Beijing’s decades-long grip on the hi-tech economy, the United States on Wednesday sought to rally more than 50 countries and the European Union around a landmark framework to loosen China’s control over the global critical minerals trade. “This morning, the Trump administration is proposing a concrete mechanism to return the global critical minerals market to a healthier, more competitive state,” US Vice-President J.D. Vance said in his opening remarks at the inaugural...