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The recent news that China plans to ban the sale of critical minerals to the US has caused a huge chill. American manufacturers and investors, threatening to damage our economy to the tune of billions of dollars. This represents a choice for America. Will we take control of our own economic future and embrace the wealth of resources literally at our feet, or will we roll over and allow hostile adversaries like China to dictate the economic and national security trajectory of the 21st century?
As discussed in recent reports, China has announced a ban on exports of gallium, germanium and antimony. These minerals are essential for the production of electric vehicles, renewable energy sources, computers, smartphones and defense technology such as radar systems, to offer just a few examples. In other words, minerals like these are key to competing in the economy of the future; China has them, they won’t export them anymore and that leaves our economy at a disadvantage – unless we step up and seize the moment.
Right now we are living in a transformative economic era not seen since the last industrial revolution. During the last three decades, world economy has rapidly digitized, which now means that minerals like those held hostage by China are more critical to our prosperity and our national security. And that is precisely why China would not want the rest of the world to have them.
The fact is that whoever pays for a bagpiper also gets a melody. This is as true for politics and everyday life as it is for the global economy. When the United States and our allies depend on bad actors and adversaries for the things we need to run our economy, we will naturally be less prosperous, less secure, and less free. As the governor of the state of Alaska, I have a solution for America to deal with this problem.
An oil tanker is seen docked at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Marine Terminal in Valdez, Alaska on August 9, 2008. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)
The Chinese Communist Party is not our ally, and it’s time to start acting like it. Our current status as trading partners has been an uncomfortable and unsustainable relationship of convenience for decades, and we can now fully see the effects of allowing that relationship to make us dependent on them for our economic well-being and the instruments of our daily lives.
Fortunately, the United States is more than ready to welcome this moment thanks to our northernmost state. Alaska is not only rich in energy, but also endowed with a vast abundance of mineral resources throughout the state. All we have to do is simply use what we already have available. Alaska it is home to 49 of the 50 key minerals like the ones China doesn’t want us to have.
Unfortunately, our approach to them as a country is drastically hampered by bad politics and wrong politics. For nearly four years, the Biden-Harris “look, don’t touch” approach to Alaska has denied jobs to the hard-working Americans I serve, and the American people as a whole, the materials needed for economic success.
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Some worry that access to these mineral resources will come at the cost of Alaska’s wildlife and natural beauty, but I find these arguments absurd. No one cares more about preserving America’s last frontier than the men and women who live, hunt and fish here. We can do both successfully, and have done so for centuries.
Thomas Jefferson once famously wrote that addiction “breeds subjection and venality, stifles the germ of virtue, and prepares a convenient instrument for the schemes of ambition.” Given the fact that a simple ban on exports from across the Pacific Ocean now threatens to harm our economy so severely, it is hard to argue with Mr. Jefferson. To compete in the 21st century, America needs critical minerals for consumer products and defense systems, and we need energy to power both. Our need for them will not diminish; if we want our children to inherit the prosperity and independence we value, then it’s time to stop looking abroad for the building blocks of a strong America and start looking north Alaska.
