Keeping China at bay and critical minerals stocked: The case for US

The United States is ill prepared to confront the challenges of an increasingly hostile global strategic environment. A coordinated coalition of adversarial states is working to dismantle the US-led global order, seeking to replace it with one defined by their ambitions and autocratic principles. At the forefront of this effort is China, which is rapidly accelerating its military capabilities and expanding its defense industrial base (DIB) to field sophisticated weapons systems designed to deter the United States globally and secure its goal of national rejuvenation. Aligned with China are Russia, Iran, and North Korea—forming an increasingly unified axis of authoritarians steadily advancing toward this objective. Compounding these challenges are increasingly frayed traditional US security