Beijings Favorite Chokehold

In geopolitics, wars aren’t always fought with bullets. Sometimes, they’re fought with magnets. Or lithium. Or gallium. And right now, China doesn’t need to fire a single shot to cripple the United States. All it has to do is stop exporting the minerals we desperately depend on.

For decades, America assumed global dominance came from oil rigs and aircraft carriers. Meanwhile, China was quietly securing the materials needed to power the 21st century: the rare earths in missile systems, the lithium in electric cars, the graphite in iPhones, and the gallium in satellites. By the time Washington realized what was happening, Beijing had the entire board cornered. China now controls over 80% of global rare earth mineral processing. They dominate the refining of lithium, cobalt, graphite, and manganese. And they supply over 90% of some mineral categories to the United States. Let that sink in. We’re building our military, energy systems, tech sector, and even AI infrastructure… on minerals controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

This Isn’t Hypothetical—They’ve Already Done It. In 2010, after a dispute with Japan, China did something unthinkable: It cut off Japan’s rare earth supply overnight.The result? Panic in global markets. Prices spiked 10x. Japan had to scramble for alternatives. And every nation

watching realized the same terrifying truth: Minerals are leverage. And China knows exactly how to use them.Fast-forward to today. When tensions with the U.S. rise—say over Taiwan, trade policy, or military tech—China doesn’t have to bluff. It just needs to slow the mineral tap. And it’s already started. In 2023, China announced export controls on gallium and germanium—two minerals critical to semiconductors, satellites, and green tech. Just a few months later, they restricted graphite exports too.

So, how did we let this happen? Well, it didn’t happen overnight. It happened because America got comfortable. And outsourced. While the U.S. was arguing about zoning permits, environmental lawsuits, and whether mining was “dirty,” China was building mines, buying them overseas, and subsidizing the entire supply chain. Let’s be honest: We have the minerals in the U.S.—from rare earths in California to copper in Arizona. We have the tech to extract them responsibly and cleanly. But we don’t have a permitting system that works fast enough to matter. It takes 12 to 17 years on average to open a new mine in the U.S. Meanwhile, in China? Sometimes less than 5. We lost this race not because we lacked resources—but because we tied our own shoelaces together.

Now for the risks no one is talking about. This isn’t just about cars and phones. It’s about national defense. Every F-35 fighter jet contains about 920 pounds of rare earths. Every advanced missile guidance system relies on magnetics powered by neodymium and dysprosium. Even our satellites—the eyes and ears of the military—can’t function without gallium and germanium. And who controls nearly all of those supply chains? Not us. If China cuts off rare earth exports during a conflict, or corners global mineral markets through subsidies and trade deals, America’s entire defense apparatus could stall. We can’t build tanks with good intentions. We can’t launch satellites with tweets.

It’s not too late. But it is urgent. We don’t need to mine recklessly. We need to mine strategically, ethically, and independently. We don’t need to abandon environmental protections—we need to modernize them to keep up with the world we live in. Permitting reform, domestic processing, and American-made supply chains are the only way forward. We already know what it looks like to be mineral-dependent. It looks like asking your geopolitical rival for the keys to your own future.