China Tariffs Are a National Security Necessity

There are plenty of economic justifications for placing tariffs on China. But bringing American manufacturing home and rebalancing global trade isn’t just about dollars and cents; it’s about keeping our country safe, our troops ready, and our enemies in check.

As a retired Air Force colonel who’s seen the world’s dangers up close, I’m telling you: we can’t keep outsourcing our strength to a rival power like China. Here’s the unfiltered truth on why tariffs matter for our national security.

China has got us by the throat when it comes to manufacturing military equipment. They’re pumping out everything from the rare earth minerals in our missiles to the chips in our drones, and we’re just handing them the keys to our arsenal.

In 2024, the United States imported $438 billion in goods from China, and they produce around 90 percent of the world’s rare earths. You think that’s an accident? Hell no. That’s a chokehold, and in a fight – whether it’s a Cold War-style standoff or a hot war in the South China Sea – they can squeeze tight. Imagine trying to keep our F-35s in the air or our Navy’s destroyers running without those materials. We’d be grounded faster than a C-130 in a sandstorm.

That’s not even to mention semiconductors. Those little chips are the lifeblood of modern warfare – critical for guidance systems, comms, you name it. China has a big slice of that pie, and we saw in 2021 how a chip shortage nearly ground this country to a halt. Ford couldn’t even get enough F-150s out the door. Now imagine how quickly every fighter jet, tank, or missile system could be rendered useless.

In a conflict, China could instantly turn off the tap of dozens of materials critical to our military readiness. Our drones go dark, our missiles miss, and our boys and girls in uniform are left swinging in the wind. That’s not just a supply chain hiccup; that’s a national security disaster.

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