A state’s natural resources may finally end America’s dependence on China

The recent news that China plans to ban the sale of critical minerals to the United States has sent a huge chill down the spine of american manufacturers and investors, threatening to damage our economy to the tune of billions of dollars. This presents an option for the United States. Will we take control of our own economic future and embrace the resource wealth literally beneath our feet, or will we turn around and let hostile adversaries like China dictate the economic and national security trajectory of the 21st century?

As explained in recent reports, China has announced a ban on exports of gallium, germanium and antimony. These minerals are essential for the manufacture of electric vehicles, renewable energy sources, computers, smartphones and defense technology such as radar systems, to give just a few examples. In other words, minerals like these are key to competing in the economy of the future; China has them, they will no longer export them and that leaves our economy at a disadvantage unless we step up and seize the moment.

Right now, we live in the kind of transformative economic era not seen since the last industrial revolution. During the last three decades, the world economy has rapidly digitized, which now means that minerals like those held hostage by China are more critical to both our prosperity and our national security. And that’s exactly why China wouldn’t want the rest of the world to have them.

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The fact of the matter is that whoever pays the piper is the one in charge. This is as true in politics and everyday life as it is in the global economy. When the United States and our allies depend on bad actors and adversaries for the things we need to power our economy, we will naturally be less prosperous, less secure, and less free. As governor of the state of Alaska, I have a solution for America to address this problem.

An oil tanker is seen moored at the Trans-Alaska Pipeline marine terminal in Valdez, Alaska, August 9, 2008. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

The Chinese Communist Party is not our ally and it is time we start acting like one. Our current status as trading partners has been an uneasy 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 equipped to meet this moment thanks to our northernmost state. Alaska is not only energy rich, but is also endowed with an enormous abundance of mineral resources throughout the state. All we have to do is simply take advantage of what we already have available. Alaska It is home to 49 of 50 critical minerals the likes of which China doesn’t want us to have.

Unfortunately, our access to them as a country has been drastically hampered by bad policies and misguided policies. For nearly four years, the Biden-Harris administration’s “look, but don’t touch” approach to Alaska has been depriving the hard-working Americans I serve and the American people as a whole of the materials we need to have economically successful.

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Some are concerned that access to these mineral resources comes at the expense of Alaska’s wildlife and natural beauty, but these arguments seem absurd to me. 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 wrote that dependence “breeds submission and venality, stifles the germ of virtue, and prepares tools fit for the designs of ambition.” Given the fact that a simple ban on exports from across the Pacific Ocean now threatens to so severely damage our economy, it is difficult to argue with Mr. Jefferson. To compete in the 21st century, the United States needs critical minerals for consumer products and defense systems, and we need energy to fuel both. Our need for them is not going to diminish; If we want our children to inherit the prosperity and independence we value, then it is time to stop looking abroad for the foundations of a strong America and start looking North for Alaska.