Highlights
- The U.S. imports over 50% of its critical minerals from China, creating a significant national security vulnerability across defense, energy, and tech sectors.
- China dominates not just mining, but the entire ecosystem of refining, processing, and innovating strategic minerals used in advanced technologies.
- Building resilient supply chains and investing in domestic mineral processing is now a critical national priority to reduce geopolitical dependence on China.
As the Trump administration ramps up its economic offensive against Beijing, China’s latest export restrictions reveal a sobering reality: the United States is deeply, structurally dependent on its chief rival for dozens of strategically vital raw materials. From rare earths and antimony to gallium, graphite, and germanium, China doesn’t just dominate mining—it controls the refining, processing, and innovation ecosystems that transform these minerals into weapons, semiconductors, batteries, and other high-tech applications.
The numbers are stark. The U.S. imports 72% of its rare earths, 68% of its bismuth, and 63% of its antimony from China. The Defense Department has confirmed that each F-35 fighter jet contains 900 pounds of rare earth materials, while advanced submarines require over 9,000 pounds. In total, 50 minerals are now designated as “critical” by the U.S. government. Yet, more than half are mainly sourced or entirely from China, often in refined forms that the U.S. lacks the domestic capacity to produce.
While Mountain Pass in California supplies approximately 15% of the global rare earths, it ships concentrates to China for final processing. Although in a recent announcement, the national treasure trove announced it would stop that activity.
U.S. midstream capabilities remain underdeveloped, despite recent executive orders aimed at fast-tracking permitting and financing new domestic mining projects. China, meanwhile, has classified its refining technologies as state secrets, nationalized foreign-owned rare earth facilities, and institutionalized rare earth education across dozens of universities, creating an industrial moat the U.S. has yet to bridge.
So this isn’t just a supply chain risk—it’s a national security gap. America’s reliance on China for critical minerals extends far beyond rare earths, affecting every major defense, energy, and technology sector, according to The New York Times. (opens in a new tab)
The urgency to build resilient supply chains, invest in domestic refining, and cultivate alternative partners in Africa, Latin America, and allied nations has never been greater. Executive orders are a start. And now President Donald Trump’s latest 232-based order calls for six months of study–something Washington, D.C., obviously has not been doing for the past two decades.
But geopolitical leverage, like rare earths themselves, must be mined, refined, and strategically stockpiled—or it will be lost.
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