BONNER COHEN: Trump Admin Just Threw Big Wrench Into China’s Attempt To Bully US With Critical Minerals Stockpile

Approving the construction of a gravel mining road in a remote stretch of northwest Alaska may not sound like much, but it’s a giant step toward challenging an assertive China’s plan to become the 21st century’s dominant global power.

Once completed, the proposed 211-mile-long Ambler Road Project will provide access to rich deposits of copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, gold, silver, gallium, germanium, and other valuable ores with both commercial and military applications, according to the Trump White House. The road will enable essential surface transportation to Alaska’s Ambler Mining District, one of the largest undeveloped copper-zinc mining belts in the world. Over 1,700 active claims have already been filed in the district, a clear indication of the area’s potential. 

Until recently, it looked as if these strategic minerals were going to continue to rest undisturbed underground, in what can only be seen as part of a deliberate effort by the Biden administration to cede global leadership in minerals and energy to China — America’s chief geopolitical rival.    

The Ambler Road Project was approved during President Donald Trump’s first term. That decision was later reversed by the Biden White House, which said the project threatened caribou and other wildlife. Seeing domestically sourced critical minerals as crucial to its vision of reindustrializing the United States, the Trump administration, on Oct. 6, instructed federal agencies to approve permits for the mining road.  

This decision came not a second too soon. Four days later, China announced sweeping new export controls on rare earths, a move designed to stifle global — and especially American — access to critical raw materials for magnets found in computer chips, medical devices, radar systems, jet engines, laptops, defense technologies and other products. China’s export restrictions are a timely reminder that Beijing is prepared to use its near monopoly on the global supply chain for rare earths (both mining and processing) as leverage against the U.S. in trade disputes with Washington.