Alaska’s Natural Resources Can End U.S. Reliance on China

January 13, 2025

Last month, China announced it would begin banning the export of rare earth minerals to the United States. These rare earth minerals are essential for our way of life and the only way to continue technological advances. This is a position we should never be in, dependent on China. As we pointed out in our report Where Green Meets Red: How the Environmental Agenda is Making America Dependent on China America has an over-reliance on foreign sources and adversarial nations for critical minerals and materials. Fortunately, our 49^th state has an abundance of these minerals.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy (R) wrote in Fox News, 

“The Chinese Communist Party is not our ally and it is time that we started acting like it. Our current status as trading partners has been an uneasy and unsustainable relationship of convenience for decades now and we can now fully see the effects of allowing that relationship to make us dependent on them for our economic well-being and the instruments of our daily lives.

Fortunately, the United States is more than equipped to meet this moment thanks to our northernmost state. Alaska is not only rich in energy, but also endowed with an enormous abundance of mineral resources across the state. All we need to do is simply take advantage of what we already have available. Alaska is home to 49 of 50 critical minerals like the ones China does not want us to have.”

If the United States wants to stay competitive, we must unlock all our natural resources, including rare earth minerals. Green groups and the eco-left try to argue about preservation, but as Dunleavy points out, Alaskans understand how to care for their home.

“Some worry that accessing these mineral resources will come at the cost of Alaska’s wildlife and natural beauty, but I find these arguments absurd. Nobody cares more about preserving America’s final frontier than the men and women who live, hunt and fish here. We can do both successfully, and we have for centuries.”

The incoming Trump administration has promised to unleash the American energy sector, and releasing restrictions on mining in Alaska is the perfect place to start.