Op-ed: America can’t defend itself with Chinese minerals 

America is building new critical-mineral processing facilities from Texas to Tennessee, but without new sources of raw material, those plants will sit idle.  

We can’t refine what we don’t produce. And today, the United States still depends on China for nearly every mineral our economy, energy systems, and military rely on. That dependence is a strategic vulnerability. 

China dominates 90% of the world’s rare earth magnets, essential for fighter jets, missiles, and electric motors. It’s the only country producing ultrapure dysprosium for advanced semiconductors, and the sole source of samarium used in countless defense applications.  

Over the past year, Beijing has tightened export controls on several of these materials, openly signaling its willingness to weaponize supply chains for geopolitical leverage. 

At the same time, US demand for critical minerals is accelerating. Defense modernization, electrification, advanced manufacturing, and artificial intelligence all depend on reliable access to nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, and rare earth elements.  

Yet America produces only a fraction of what it needs, and imports most of the rest from strategic competitors. 

President Trump understands what’s at stake. His “Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources” executive order cuts through red tape and directs federal agencies to accelerate offshore mineral exploration and production.  

That leadership matters. But success will depend on sustained follow-through, coordinated agency action, and a clear signal that offshore mineral development is not optional, but essential to national security. 

The US and its allies are pouring billions into new mineral processing and refining capacity. The Export-Import Bank has pledged $2.2 billion in financing for projects in Australia, and JPMorgan Chase has launched a $10 billion strategic minerals initiative. Yet if we fail to develop new sources of feedstock, these investments will go nowhere. That’s where critical ocean minerals come in. 

The ocean floor holds vast deposits of nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper – the very metals that underpin electric vehicles, renewable power systems, batteries, and defense technologies. These are the building blocks of American reindustrialization, and the foundation for a secure, high-tech economy. 

A billion tons of recoverable critical minerals will be enough to deliver a multi-generational supply of these key metals, meet America’s industrial and defense needs for decades, and even position the US as an exporter to our allies. This is the kind of strategic resource play that can power both prosperity and security for generations. 

Detractors often frame deep-sea mining as risky, but the reality is the opposite. Fortunately, growing evidence indicates that well-regulated deep-sea mineral activities can be conducted with minimal and manageable environmental impact. 

For example, coastal communities throughout the United States have relied on sediment dredging, a method potentially capable of producing critical minerals from America’s shallow waters, for port management, beach renourishment, and coastal resiliency projects for decades. 

Modern offshore energy operations have shown that advanced monitoring, robotics, and containment technologies make seabed resource development cleaner, safer, and far more regulated than the strip mining and chemical leaching happening onshore in China.  

Deep-sea mining by US or allied companies offers a unique opportunity to safely extract ocean resources, including polymetallic nodules, from the sea floor to meet growing demand for critical minerals and rare earth elements.  

This is not a choice between protecting the environment and advancing progress: it’s a question of whether we allow China to continue dominating global supply chains while the US hesitates. Responsible, American-led deep-sea mining can enhance both energy security and environmental standards worldwide. 

America faces a defining decision and President Trump’s policy recognizes that minerals are as essential to national defense as oil and gas. They power the aircraft that protect our skies, the chips that drive our economy, and the technologies that will shape the future of warfare and industry. The risk is not in acknowledging this reality, but in moving too slowly to act on it. 

Our allies are already moving. Countries like Japan and Sweden are developing their own seabed mineral programs to secure long-term access. If the United States hesitates, it risks ceding not only economic leadership, but control over the technologies that will define global power in the decades ahead. Every delay reinforces China’s leverage and undermines the very investments America is making in processing, manufacturing, and defense readiness. 

America can’t defend itself with Chinese minerals. The oceans hold a critical part of the solution. The only question is whether the United States will lead or let others set the rules while we watch from shore. 

Erik Milito is president of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), representing the full American offshore energy industry sector, including oil, gas, wind, ocean minerals and emerging ocean industries.