While the nation was focused on an ongoing personal tragedy and the Super Bowl, representatives of 54 nations met last Wednesday in Washington, DC, at the request of Secretary of State Marco Rubio to plot out a pathway to mutual independence from the Chinese stranglehold on access to critical minerals and rare earths. The inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial was aimed at strengthening global supply chains for minerals essential for advanced technologies, defense, AI, robotics, batteries, and autonomous devices. Attendees ran the gamut from India and Japan to the European Commission to Qatar and the UAE, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, Thailand and the Philippines, and Israel and Jordan. Secretary Rubio acknowledged that “As we embraced what was new and glamorous, we outsourced what seemed old and unfashionable … and one day we realized we had outsourced our economic security and our very future. We were at the mercy of whoever controlled the supply chains for these minerals.” Whover, of course, refers to the Peoples Republic of China. Vice President JD Vance reminded 43 foreign ministers that, “As much as we talk about the modern economy, the digital economy, the high-tech economy … as much as data centers and technology and all of these incredible things that we’re all working on matter, fundamentally you still have an economy that runs on real things. And there is no realer thing than oil … and … critical minerals.”