In his escalating attempts to cut ties with China, President Trump has aggressively employed tariffs, threats, and embargoes. But there’s one potentially powerful tool the Trump Administration has yet to leverage fully: trash.
Hidden among America’s trash heaps and mining waste are potentially rich accumulations of critical materials that China currently monopolizes—and that the United States desperately needs. Capitalizing on those materials will remove one of China’s greatest sources of leverage over American national and economic security.
After decades of allowing domestic production of critical minerals to flatline, policymakers and industrial partners have finally woken up to the dangers of the Chinese critical mineral monopoly. The country controls 60% of critical mineral production and 85% of the world’s processing capacity. Yet these often-cited numbers can obscure even more frightening vulnerabilities.
