For years, we have been writing about the fact that China’s dominance of critical mineral mining and, especially, processing is a threat to our national security. It is also a scandal: we have plenty of minerals in the U.S., but we don’t mine them–or, at least, we don’t develop new mines to take advantage of our resources. Because environmentalists–the Democratic Party–won’t allow it. Thus, we have abdicated control over our economy and our children’s future to the Chinese Communist Party.
This chart, from a 2022 Power Line post, tells the story:
To learn much more, check out Mission Impossible, by Debra Struhsacker and Sarah Montalbano.
Happily, there are some Democrats, including the editors of the New York Times, who have seen the light and are not willing to turn global domination over to the Chinese. Thus, we have this Times editorial titled “The U.S. Must Break China’s Chokehold on Our Economy.” Better late than never. All are welcome to get behind sound policy.
The Times editorial focuses on rare earths, which are just one part of the broader issue of control over critical minerals. But what they say is true:
China has powerful leverage over the United States through rare earths. The country has built an effective monopoly over these metallic elements, which are difficult to mine and process. They are also critical to the U.S. economy and military — used to make magnets essential to a wide range of electronics, including cars, fighter jets, drones, smartphones, computers and M.R.I. machines.
The Times exists for the sole purpose of resisting the Trump administration, so the editorial goes off on an anti-Trump rant, as though this were somehow his fault. But then it comes back to reality, sort of:
Mr. Trump is not to blame for most of the problem.
Do tell!
Yes, his trade war was reckless. But China started to build its rare earth dominance decades ago, long before Mr. Trump became president.
Obviously. And Trump is the president who is trying to do something about it. Did the Times run any similar editorials during the four years of the Biden administration, criticizing it for ceding control over our economy to the Chinese? Not that I recall.
The good news is that Times editorialists, presumably speaking for a considerable faction of the Democratic Party, are now ready to join forces with Trump. And, in fact, they encourage him to do more:
The Trump administration has started taking steps in this direction. It has invested in mines and refineries, sometimes by buying federal stakes in the companies involved. It has also signed trade deals for rare earth mining and refining with other countries, including Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia. The long-term solution should start with an all-of-the-above strategy that includes building up capabilities in the United States and in allied nations, as well as financing research into potential alternatives to rare earths. Some automakers have started doing this research.
These efforts are welcome yet insufficient. We urge members of Congress from both parties to begin writing legislation that can expand the country’s rare earth capabilities. This legislation needs to be bipartisan to give companies confidence that the government will remain committed to the project.
Why has the U.S. not developed our mineral resources? (Again, rare earths are just one relatively small part of the story.) Because environmentalists have not permitted us to do so. The Obama and Biden administrations did everything they could to impede domestic production of critical minerals. But here, as on other fronts, the tide has turned. The New York Times will never give him credit, but President Trump’s determination to wrest control of our economic future from the Chinese Communists is carrying the day. We can hope that the reign of the environmentalists will soon be over.
