COLUMN: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: America’s future depends on winning the critical minerals race
For decades, America benefited from a simple assumption: if we needed something essential, global markets would provide it. That assumption no longer holds true. Today, the future of America’s economy, military readiness, and technological leadership depends on critical minerals — lithium, copper, rare earth elements, nickel, graphite, cobalt, and other materials that power everything from fighter jets and satellites to semiconductors, electric vehicles, energy grids, and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The uncomfortable reality is that the United States has become dangerously dependent on foreign supply chains for many of these materials, particularly those controlled or heavily influenced by China. Modern warfare runs on advanced technologies requiring secure access to critical minerals. Precision-guided weapons, naval systems, aerospace manufacturing, batteries, communications infrastructure, and next-generation defense platforms all rely on materials that America increasingly imports from geopolitical competitors. No serious nation allows its adversaries to dominate the supply chains underpinning its military and industrial future.
At the same time, critical minerals are central to the global innovation race. The countries that secure reliable access to these resources will shape the future of advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, clean energy, and high-performance computing. America cannot lead the world in innovation while outsourcing the raw materials necessary to build that future. The good news is that the United States possesses enormous mineral wealth, world-class engineering talent, and the ability to become a global leader in responsible mining and mineral processing.
But achieving that goal requires urgency, realism, and political courage. First, the United States must dramatically accelerate permitting reform. Today, it can take a decade or longer to permit a mining project in America — among the slowest timelines in the developed world. Strategic projects cannot remain trapped in endless bureaucratic delay. Environmental protections can and should be balanced to ensure national resilience. Second, America must invest not only in mining, but also in processing and refining capacity. Mining ore domestically means little if we continue to ship all the materials overseas for refinement. We need an integrated industrial strategy that strengthens the entire supply chain.
Third, the federal government should expand partnerships with allies to create secure, democratic supply networks, ending our reliance on adversarial countries. Fourth, we must invest in workforce development, research, recycling technologies, and nextgeneration extraction methods that reduce environmental impact while increasing production efficiency.
Finally, Washington must stop treating mining as a partisan issue. America’s future depends on our ability to produce the materials modern economies require. The global competition for critical minerals is underway, and our economic and national security future depends on winning this competition.
