America must break China’s grip on critical minerals before it’s too late

Critical minerals quietly power every aspect of modern American life. When you pour your morning coffee, you rely on copper wires and silicon chips working behind the scenes inside your coffee maker. When you take milk out of the refrigerator, you rely on metal components, copper wiring, and electronic controls to keep it cold. Turn on the television to another round of politicians’ bickering on cable news, and you’re looking at a screen built with indium, lithium, and rare earth phosphors.

Turn off the lights, get in your car, connect your phone to Bluetooth, and turn on your favorite podcast to head to work. This daily routine depends on copper, lithium and a host of other essential minerals that power modern batteries, speakers, navigation systems, electric motors and communications technology.

These materials are so deeply ingrained in our daily lives that most Americans would never think twice about them. But they should do it.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WORKS TO BREAK CHINA’S RARE EARTH MINERALS STRANGLE ON AFRICA

Beijing certainly did. The Chinese Communist Party has spent decades and hundreds of billions of dollars cornering the market on critical minerals, from mining to processing and refining. Today, China controls approximately 70% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of rare earth refining capacity, dominating the supply chains that support the United States economy and national security.

It’s not just about what goes into your coffee maker or your iPhone. Critical minerals are essential to America’s military strength, fueling everything from advanced fighter jets and missile systems to radar, satellites and communications technology. China knows this and has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to weaponize global supply chains for geopolitical leverage.

Last year, Beijing imposed drastic export controls on rare earth elements, disrupting global markets and sending shockwaves through defense and manufacturing supply chains. The consequences directly affected Americans. Supply disruptions drive up costs, slow manufacturing, threaten jobs and make everything from cars to consumer electronics more expensive and harder to produce.

The aerospace industry in my state, California, offers a clear example of what is at stake. The sector supports more than 350,000 jobs and generates tens of billions of dollars in annual economic output. It also plays a central role in the U.S. defense industrial base, producing advanced aircraft, satellites and missile systems. Without reliable access to essential minerals, thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity are at risk.

President Trump and his administration understand the urgency of this challenge and are moving quickly to restore American dominance in energy and minerals. Recent efforts to strengthen domestic mining and support companies like MP Materials and Lithium Americas are important steps in the right direction.

But America cannot solve this problem alone. Even with increased domestic production, global demand for essential minerals is expected to soar in the coming decades. Some estimates show that the world will consume as much copper in the next 25 years as humanity has in all of history.

That’s why we must work alongside our most trusted allies and friends to build strong and resilient supply chains outside of China.

This week, my Developing Overseas Mineral Investments and New Allied Networks for Critical Energy (DOMINANCE) Act passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The DOMINANCE Act helps lock in President Trump’s critical minerals strategy and creates a coordinated approach to securing the supply chains that power our economy and national defense. This legislation strengthens America’s ability to work with its allies, reduces its dependence on China, and ensures that the free world – not the Chinese Communist Party – controls the resources that will define the 21st century.

It is not just about energy or industrial policy. This is not about military might or geopolitical competition, although that is certainly part of the calculus. This challenge is, at its core, about protecting the American dream and our way of life.

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The appliances in our homes, the cars we drive, the technology we rely on every day, and the military systems that defend our country all depend on secure critical mineral supply chains. America can either experience this moment now or risk regretting it for the next 100 years.

I am optimistic that, under this administration and alongside our allies, America can reclaim our critical mineral supply chains and reclaim our energy future.

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