During my final overseas CIA assignment as a station chief in a South Asian war zone, our team was ruthlessly focused on detecting and preempting terrorist threats long before they could inflict harm on the U.S. homeland. We conducted plenty of clandestine operations unilaterally, but we also worked in close partnership with the host government’s intelligence service. We did not always agree on everything, but we enjoyed a robust exchange of intelligence on our mutual adversaries, shared analytical judgments and collaborated on a number of joint tactical counterterrorism operations.
On one occasion, our CIA team successfully found and fixed the location of a senior al Qaeda terrorist on the FBI Most Wanted list for having planned terrorist attacks. We shared our sensitive intelligence with the host government, whose military launched a well-planned raid and killed the al Qaeda terrorist during a firefight.
If there was one thing I learned at CIA, especially when it came to counterterrorism operations, it’s that our allies can be a tremendous force multiplier for our sacred mission of keeping our country safe from those who seek to do us harm.
Today, the Trump administration is applying a similar strategy for ensuring secure critical minerals supply chains and de-risking from Communist China, which is the world’s leading miner and processor of rare earths. China has made it a practice of extorting its commercial adversaries by restricting its exports of critical minerals.
Rare earth minerals are essential for making semiconductors, motors and fighter jets, all critical for our national security. The last thing we would want is to have to rely on Communist China for the supply.
China’s brazenly unfair trade practices involve dumping on the global market its massive, excess production of rare earths deliberately to drive prices down and force competitor mining companies out of business, thereby eliminating any long-term competition.
But the Trump administration has deployed a counter playbook to reduce China’s influence over rare earth markets. Rightly concerned that China is seeking to control the global economy by imposing its will on the high technology supply chain, Trump recently signed an $8-billion rare-earth mineral deal with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. And during his recent trip to Asia, Trump signed rare earth deals with Thailand and Malaysia.
The Trump administration also deftly applies the same principle of de-risking to critical materials and minerals including polysilicon, a pure form of silicon essential for the production of microchips and integrated circuits. Seeking to minimize the risk of China’s dominant global market share of polysilicon, the Trump administration smartly relies on NATO member Germany for the bulk of our polysilicon imports.
Further, the Trump administration is investigating national security threats posed by imports from other countries, including, but not exclusively, those linked to China. China dominates global polysilicon through state subsidies, deliberate overproduction and other nefarious trade practices — a familiar Chinese Communist Party playbook used on strategic materials.
‘If an enemy has alliances,’ Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, ‘the problem is grave and the enemy’s position strong.’
The U.S. is leading the way by building a global network for key technology components, which are vital to protecting our national security from Communist Chinese mercantilist aggression.
Dictators like Chinese President Xi Jinping want their enemies to be weak and divided. That’s because together the U.S. and our commercial partners are stronger and more able to protect internationally recognized borders, freedom of navigation and free trade on which the U.S. and global economy rely.