Trump confronts China’s mineral extortion

OPINION:

For too long, the U.S. did little more than watch China tighten its vise grip on global mineral supply chains essential to every dimension of our economic and national security. Our response was incoherent, uncoordinated and unimaginative, a resignation that China’s mineral dominance was a problem we understood acutely but lacked the capacity to address. No longer.

President Trump’s new executive order confronting China’s minerals weapon isn’t just a step forward; it’s a leap. With a pen stroke, the president has awoken a sleeping giant.

“It is imperative for our national security that the United States take immediate action to facilitate domestic mineral production to the maximum possible extent,” the order states.

The president has invoked the Defense Production Act to jumpstart domestic production of the minerals we so desperately need but have become increasingly reliant on imports to supply. Along with a host of other provisions and directives, the order will expand and prioritize mineral development on the nation’s vast public lands, address crippling permitting challenges and provide a variety of much-needed financial support to level the playing field for domestic mining and processing projects that have struggled against overseas anti-competitive practices.

The order pulls in the expertise and resources of numerous agencies, from the Departments of Interior and Defense to the Small Business Administration and the Development Finance Corporation, to rebuild American mineral strength. This whole-of-government approach moves with urgency to bring an abrupt end to an era of hand-wringing and half-measures. And it does not come in a moment too soon.

According to a recent government analysis, the U.S. is import-reliant on 40 of 50 critical minerals, with China as the leading producer of 30. Mineral demand is exploding, driven by the rapid uptake of highly mineral-intensive, advanced technologies—from lithium-ion batteries to semiconductors at the heart of the AI revolution—making this alarming situation all but untenable.

China has already weaponized our mineral insecurity and is actively working to further corner global commodities markets. China’s dominance of mineral supply chains now far eclipses the high water mark of OPEC control over global oil supplies. The danger this poses is all too real and immediate.

Every time the U.S. challenges China’s unfair trade practices—such as the theft of intellectual property—Beijing responds with export controls on minerals needed by a broad cross-section of American industry, including our defense industrial base.

In just the past few months, Beijing has issued export controls on several essential materials, including gallium, tellurium, molybdenum, graphite and, notably, tungsten and antimony, essential to producing countless munitions and weapons systems.

Defanging Chinese mineral extortion and rebuilding American mineral security will require the kind of focus and long-term commitment that is troublingly elusive in Washington, but this executive order finally confronts the challenge with the tools and urgency the crisis demands. Most notably, it embraces the potential of our vast domestic resources. Along with China, the greatest hurdle to confronting American mineral weakness has been our own obstructive policy.

American mining is once again center stage—no longer an afterthought to ever-growing reliance on mineral imports from nations that lack the environmental, labor and safety standards that make our industry world-class.

The Trump administration has declared its intention for the U.S. to become the world’s premier mineral producer again. That ambition is precisely the right goal, and we can now unleash American industry and innovation and rebuild the very foundation of our industrial base. For the first time in decades, our mining policy will underpin American strength rather than undermine it. It’s now time to get to work.

• Rich Nolan is President and CEO of the National Mining Association.