When Donald Trump threatens 200% tariffs on China for blocking rare-earth magnets, he is not just flexing trade muscle, he is pointing to a deeper imbalance. Simply put, he is saying that control over the raw materials that power chips, smartphones, fighter jets, and AI servers is an equally lethal geopolitical weapon. China’s near-90 percent monopoly on rare-earth refining and magnet production, built over decades, gives it enormous leverage. With one stroke, if it blocks rare earths, it can slow factories in Detroit or Munich, stall Bengaluru’s tech parks, or even disrupt Tallinn’s digital state, exposing the fragility of modern progress. Trump’s retaliatory talk of cutting off Boeing airplane parts to China may make headlines, but it doesn’t alter the structural imbalance.

This is where digital sovereignty becomes critical. At its core, it means a country owns and operates the digital systems people rely on every day such as identity, payments, and cloud storage with safeguards strong enough to prevent any external power from switching them off at will.

The idea is central to political debate because citizens are no longer just passive users of technology; they are critical stakeholders in the governance of digital infrastructure and the development of new technologies. While the debate over who controls data continues, control over the raw materials that make digital systems possible has added a new dimension. Strengthening digital sovereignty means not only........

© Mathrubhumi English