Used in cell phones and laptop computers, 3TG—tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold—are mined across the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Seen here is tin ore. Photo by Sasha Lezhnev/Enough Project/Flickr.

China’s technological leadership in strategic industries must haunt the days and nights of Donald Trump. China has now overtaken the United States in manufacturing, artificial intelligence, energy, transport, biotech, defence, and robotics. The global economy is clearly tilting the geopolitical landscape toward China, and this reality is now a threat to US foreign policy.

China’s dominant role in controlling and processing critical minerals that power the high-tech revolution and war itself is likely the greatest challenge to the unipolar world order that Trump seeks.

Earlier this year, the US president announced a plan to create a $12 billion stockpile of critical minerals for American automakers, tech companies, and other manufacturers to counter China’s dominance in the global supply chain and protect US industry from price hikes. The inherent contradiction in Trump’s announcement is that the anticipated stockpile, known as Project Vault, would likely have to import critical minerals from China.

Because China processes up to 90 percent of key tech and defence metals, it is a chokepoint in the global supply chain. Many rare earths are mined in China, and other key strategic minerals for our modern economy are refined or controlled by Beijing.

Yet China relies heavily on Africa for its mineral resources, in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo. Without Congo, China would face extraordinarily higher costs to secure resources elsewhere, such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Russia.

Only Congo, with its distinctive geology, is able to produce the critical minerals for energy, defence, capacitor, and semiconductor supply chains that China currently brings to scale. Congo is the biggest global producer of cobalt, a critical mineral used in electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and military aerospace. The country is the second biggest producer of copper, which conducts electricity and is used to make cables, wires, and switches for smart technology. Chinese companies have for many years been the leading investors in cobalt and copper exploration in Congo, securing the rights to multiple mineral concessions in exchange for China’s state-owned banks agreeing to provide an estimated US$5-6 billion in infrastructure there.

In exchange for US investors getting direct access to Congo’s minerals, Trump has agreed to sponsor peace efforts between Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, a country that has waged a 30-year war in eastern Congo that has killed and displaced millions of civilians.

Earlier this year, the Congolese government sent a shortlist of state-owned assets—including manganese, copper-cobalt, gold, and lithium projects—for US investors to consider as part of a mineral partnership. In July, KoBold Metals, a mining company backed by US billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, signed an agreement to acquire a stake in the Manono lithium project, considered one of the world’s largest lithium reserves. Lithium is a key component in electric vehicle batteries.

Congo has also offered US investors lucrative mining concessions in Rubaya, the epicentre of tantalum, which Congolese miners extract under dangerous, gruelling conditions for........

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