Commentary: President Trump Is Back and It’s No Longer Business as Usual

by Lou Baretta

Buying critical resources from China? Maybe not. It’s time to make a deal.

It’s been three years of sending check after check to Ukraine, and for most of that time we had a president who just sent the money with a pat on the back and said let us know when you need more of our tax dollars. Thankfully, President Trump is back in charge and he will always ensure that Americans come first.

Trump’s idea to request $500 billion in rare earth minerals from Ukraine in exchange for economic aid is genius. The business experience President Trump has is different from our regular politicians who just give it all away. He knows how to make a deal. We are once again a nation that is leading and not allowing other countries to walk all over us. This is one of countless examples from the last three weeks showing the world that President Trump is back in the White House.

Rare earth elements don’t get the attention they deserve from the news media, but they are vital to our everyday life as key components of a nearly endless list of electronic devices. They are also a commodity over which China holds dangerous dominance, placing the United States at the mercy of their communist government. For economic, national security, and, yes, environmental reasons, it is past time we increase our nation’s supply of these minerals, known as REEs.

The question must be asked, why didn’t the previous administration request REEs in return for the economic aid? It appears the Biden administration did not ask for anything. After four years of a president who put other countries’ needs before the United States’ the American people were fed up. This deal with Ukraine for REEs, along with his countless other actions over the last three weeks, allows Americans to breathe a sigh of relief knowing we have a president who stands up for us.

This again shows the stark difference between the Trump and Biden presidencies. On the 2020 presidential campaign trail, Joe Biden infamously downplayed the economic threat to America represented by China. He scorned the notion that China is a significant competitor of ours, scoffing, “China’s gonna eat our lunch? C’mon, man!” Biden was wrong, as China has been exploiting American complacency for decades, both in trade and in stealing intellectual property. But there’s another area where China has been “eating our lunch” that goes unnoticed most of the time: production of REEs. President Trump knows that on many levels China is threat. Including our reliance on REEs, it is alarming that China supplies about 80% of these elements that the United States needs – and worse, China knows it. President Trump’s creativity and brilliance to strike this deal with Ukraine removes China’s upper hand with REEs.

REEs are heavy, soft metals employed in the electronic devices which are everywhere in today’s world. They are used in the manufacture of televisions, cell phones, computers, microphones, and speakers, among other items, but are also extremely versatile. There are medical uses, agricultural uses, and even applications in missile defense systems. In short, rare earth minerals help make modern life possible and should be considered a national security priority.

In May 2019, as former President Donald Trump was correctly holding China accountable for its cheating in international matters, the communists threatened to cut off exports of rare earth elements to the U.S. It was not a threat to be dismissed, as the Chinese already had done exactly that to Japan a decade prior. President Trump knows that we must be prepared with stockpiles and different sources for these REEs so that we are never reliant on China.

While I was a member of Congress, representing the former 11^th District of Pennsylvania, I identified REEs as key to the future of our Commonwealth and of our nation. I was proud to help secure a $1 million federal grant to Penn State for a pilot project to extract REEs from coal waste, and I visited the site with U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in 2017.

China controls 97% of the world’s REE production. Until we are able to produce REEs we need a commander in chief who will ensure the United States has what we need to power our country. REEs from Ukraine instead of China – brilliant. Americans knew we needed someone who will think out of the box and actually get things done. That’s why President Trump is back in the White House. We again have a president who will always put America first.

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Lou Baretta is a former mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and a former member of Congress.

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