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Americans are waking up to a hard truth: China has weaponized the global supply chain and the Biden administration’s rivals are playing for keeps. Beijing’s recent move to tighten export controls on rare earths and other crucial materials shows it can choke off inputs for everything from cell phones to defense systems, and Washington finds itself scrambling. This isn’t theory — it’s a geopolitical reality that proves dependence on a strategic adversary was a catastrophic policy failure.
Beijing didn’t invent the playbook; it learned from decades of American regulatory reach and then perfected retaliatory tools like export controls, blacklists, and an “unreliable entity” regime to punish companies that cross it. That mirrored approach gives China asymmetric leverage: when the chips are down it can restrict materials that the world desperately needs and inflict real pain on U.S. industries and the defense industrial base. Our leaders have been slow to acknowledge that the rules-based system they praised for decades can be turned against us by a ruthless state actor.
Let’s be blunt: consenting to decades of offshoring was a policy choice with predictable consequences, and both parties share blame for letting strategic supply chains move to Beijing’s backyard. Normalizing trade with China without hard guarantees on intellectual property, market access, and supply security was an act of national negligence that hollowed out American manufacturing and political leverage. Hardworking Americans paid the price in lost factories and communities while elites celebrated cheap imports and easy profits.
The Trump administration’s recent tariff moves and the reciprocal retaliatory measures from Beijing are evidence that this standoff is now into a higher gear. Washington has responded with sweeping tariffs and export controls meant to protect national security, and Beijing has pushed back with its own measures — a tit-for-tat that risks economic pain but highlights who holds the critical inputs today. This escalation isn’t a game; it’s a contest over who controls bottlenecks essential to modern industry and national defense.
None of this should be surprising. China dominates processing and supply of rare earths, and those materials are not optional luxuries — they are linchpins for advanced electronics, renewable tech, and military hardware. If Beijing decides to weaponize these supplies, the disruption won’t just be felt in Wall Street spreadsheets; it will impact defense readiness and American jobs. The prudent response is obvious: diversify supply quickly and rebuild domestic capacity so our security doesn’t depend on an adversary’s goodwill.
Conservative policy prescriptions are straightforward and practical: incentivize domestic mining and processing, streamline permitting for strategic projects, lean on allies to build alternative supply chains, and use targeted countermeasures to deter Beijing’s economic coercion. Yes, there will be short-term economic pain and higher costs for some goods — but sovereignty and security are worth that investment, and it beats surrendering leverage to a hostile power. The choice is between short-term comfort and long-term independence; conservatives should choose the latter without apology.
Patriotic Americans should demand that leaders stop treating China like a normal trading partner and start treating it like the strategic rival it is. We must reject the complacency that put supply chains in foreign hands and instead forge a future built on American workers, American resources, and unapologetic strength. The next chapter will be written by policymakers who understand that true prosperity begins with security, and who are willing to fight for it on behalf of ordinary citizens.
