Tom Moerenhout and Tomasz Nadrowski on Fixing the Mineral Supply Chain

Critical mineral supply chains face systemic underinvestment because private capital struggles with the long timelines and high capital requirements inherent in mining. China’s dominance, built through decades of vertically integrated industrial strategy, now functions as a geopolitical weapon, necessitating a fundamental shift in Western policy. Effective solutions require moving beyond broad subsidies to address specific bottlenecks in exploration, processing, and refining. Establishing tariff-based price floors can help incentivize new investment while protecting domestic industries from predatory pricing. Furthermore, building a resilient supply chain demands a generational commitment to coordinating demand and supply across allied nations. Tom Moerenhout, lead of the Critical Minerals Initiative, and Tomasz Nadrowski, author of *Mineral War*, emphasize that success depends on bipartisan leadership and the creation of specialized institutional structures to conduct rigorous technical and financial due diligence on potential projects.