Editor’s note: This is the ninth article in an 11-part series examining how the United States should organize, lead, and integrate economic statecraft into strategy, defense practice, and the broader national security ecosystem. The special series is brought to you by the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and War on the Rocks. Prior installments can be found at the War by Other Ledgers page.In September 2010, after a Chinese fishing trawler captain was detained near the Senkaku Islands, Beijing halted rare-earth exports to Japan. The embargo lasted weeks. China showed, on a U.S. treaty ally
The ongoing series on economic statecraft highlights a deliberate, sustained focus on national manufacturing as a strategic tool in the current geopolitical climate.
A strategic reader should care because weaponized interdependencies, as demonstrated by the rare-earth embargo, necessitate a re-evaluation of industrial policy for national security and economic resilience.
The focus shifts from purely economic efficiency to resilience and strategic autonomy, with a greater emphasis on domestic manufacturing for critical goods.
- · US manufacturing sector
- · Allied nations with diversified supply chains
- · Domestic industrial policy advocates
- · Nations reliant on single-source critical imports
- · Companies prioritizing offshore low-cost production
- · Pure free-market economic models
Increased investment and policy support for rebuilding American manufacturing capabilities across strategic sectors.
Reduced dependence on potentially adversarial nations for critical goods, leading to more resilient supply chains.
A potential restructuring of global trade agreements to prioritize national security and resilience over pure economic liberalization.
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Read at War on the Rocks