For years, China quietly built one of the most powerful economic weapons in the world. While many nations focused on manufacturing finished products, Beijing worked to dominate the materials that make modern technology possible. Today, that strategy is paying dividends for China, but Peter Navarro believes America finally has a realistic way to fight back.
Navarro, who serves as White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, argues that China’s grip on critical minerals is not permanent. Instead, he believes the United States can build an independent supply chain by combining government support, private industry, and breakthrough technology. One company at the center of that strategy is ReElement Technologies, whose innovative approach may help loosen China’s hold on one of the world’s most important industries.
China’s Long Game
According to Navarro, China’s dominance did not happen by accident. He argues that Beijing spent decades pursuing industrial leadership through state subsidies, forced technology transfer, blocked market access, intellectual property theft, and aggressive trade practices. The result is that China now occupies a commanding position in numerous strategic industries.
Critical minerals have become perhaps the most significant of all.
These minerals are essential for semiconductors, artificial intelligence infrastructure, aerospace systems, satellites, batteries, electric vehicles, advanced military hardware, fiber optics, and countless other technologies that modern economies depend upon.
Navarro describes China’s latest strategy as one of calculated pressure rather than outright embargoes.
“China uses ‘starve, not strangle’ tactics designed to control the critical-minerals valves without closing them entirely.”
Rather than completely cutting off exports, China can slow approvals, ration supplies, increase prices, and remind manufacturers around the world that access to these vital materials depends on Beijing’s approval. That creates uncertainty for companies and governments alike while preserving China’s leverage.
Critical Minerals Are National Security
The importance of these materials extends well beyond commercial products.
Gallium supports semiconductor production and advanced radar systems. Germanium is indispensable for fiber optics, infrared optics, satellite solar cells, night vision equipment, and aerospace applications. Graphite powers modern batteries. Tungsten is vital for machine tools and munitions. Antimony is used in ammunition and flame retardants. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese are fundamental components of advanced batteries used in military electronics, drones, and grid-scale energy storage.
Whoever controls these materials possesses significant influence over the industries that define both economic competitiveness and military readiness.
Recent export restrictions imposed by China on several strategic minerals have demonstrated just how much leverage Beijing possesses. Those actions have heightened concerns throughout the West that critical mineral supplies can be used as geopolitical tools rather than simply traded as commodities.
Navarro’s Alternative
Rather than attempting to compete with China by copying its mining model, Navarro proposes something fundamentally different.
He points to ReElement Technologies as an example of American innovation solving a strategic problem.
Editor’s Note: ENERG4 is a company we are associated with that has state-of-the-art technology and processes mine tailings – and anything else – with the same goal. ENERG4 can do this at scale.
The company specializes in advanced chromatographic separation technology capable of recovering valuable critical minerals from a remarkably diverse range of feedstocks. Instead of relying solely on newly mined ore, ReElement can refine mixed rare earth carbonate, recycled magnets, mine tailings, industrial residues, zinc byproducts, electronic scrap, and other secondary materials.
In other words, materials that were once considered waste can become valuable strategic resources.
Navarro believes this flexibility changes the economics of the industry.
“Waste becomes strategic supply.”
Unlike traditional mining operations that depend upon a single source of raw material, ReElement’s technology allows it to adapt to whatever feedstock is available. That flexibility could prove especially valuable if international supply chains become disrupted.
A Cleaner and More Competitive Model
Navarro also argues that America’s opportunity lies in developing technologies that outperform China’s refining methods.
He notes that China’s production has benefited from inexpensive coal-fired power, chemical-intensive processing, wastewater discharge, and environmental shortcuts that reduce costs. Instead of competing by lowering environmental standards, Navarro believes American companies can use better technology to produce cleaner and more efficient results while remaining competitive.
The Pentagon appears to share that view.
The Department of Defense has invested hundreds of millions of dollars supporting projects involving ReElement Technologies and Vulcan Elements, including an additional $25 million investment intended to expand domestic refining capacity for rare earth elements and other defense-critical minerals.
Under this partnership, ReElement produces refined rare earth oxides while Vulcan converts those materials into metals and finished magnets, creating an integrated supply chain that operates independently of China.
Innovation Instead of Dependence
Navarro compares today’s challenge to America’s energy transformation brought about by hydraulic fracturing.
Just as fracking dramatically reduced American dependence on foreign oil, he believes innovative refining technologies could transform America’s position in critical minerals.
Perhaps no example illustrates this better than germanium.
ReElement projects annual separation capacity of approximately 500 metric tons of germanium dioxide annually, while current U.S. demand is estimated at only 90 to 120 metric tons. If those projections are realized, domestic production could satisfy American demand while also supporting allied nations.
That does not mean recycled materials and industrial waste will replace every traditional mine. America’s long-term needs will almost certainly require multiple sources of critical minerals, including conventional mining and partnerships with trusted allies.
However, recovering valuable materials from mine tailings, industrial waste, electronic scrap, and other overlooked resources represents an important new source of supply that previously received far less attention.
Peter Navarro’s broader message is that America does not have to accept permanent dependence on China. By supporting innovative companies, encouraging industrial partnerships, and turning waste streams into strategic assets, the United States can begin rebuilding an independent critical minerals supply chain.
If successful, that approach would not merely strengthen American manufacturing. It could also reduce one of Beijing’s most powerful sources of geopolitical influence while creating a cleaner, more resilient foundation for the technologies that will shape the decades ahead.
