Kounalakis: Trump's attacks on California condemn America to dependency on China

"The 21st-century economy - from our smartphones and F-35 fighter jets to wind turbines and electric vehicles - runs on 17 obscure metals known as rare earth elements. Control their supply, and you control the technological high ground. For decades, America ceded this control, a strategic blunder that left our security perilously dependent on China, which now dominates over 80% of the global supply chain."

"When China, in retaliation for tariffs, threatened to weaponize its rare earth monopoly - a move tested on Japan in 2010 - the administration's desperation only intensified. This approach, predicated on blackmail and strong-arming, is not a strategy; it is a lurch from one crisis to the next."

"The irony is stark: The most viable, scalable and secure solution to this dependency lies not in Arctic islands or conflict-ridden territories, but right here at home, buried in the soil of a state the administration relentlessly attacks - California. There is no more important state for securing America's resource independence. The linchpin is the Mountain Pass mine in the Mojave Desert."

Rare earth elements power modern technology from smartphones to military systems, yet China controls over 80% of global supply. The Trump administration recognizes this vulnerability and proposes a $12 billion strategic stockpile, but pursues counterproductive foreign policy tactics including resource acquisition attempts and coercive diplomacy. When China threatened to weaponize its rare earth monopoly in retaliation for tariffs, the administration intensified desperate measures. The most viable solution exists domestically: California's Mountain Pass mine in the Mojave Desert, once the world's leading rare earth producer before China's price dumping caused bankruptcy. Revitalizing domestic production offers genuine resource independence without relying on conflict-ridden territories or Arctic acquisitions.

Read at The Mercury News