The debate over the minerals problem has finally come down to earth. It is centered on President Trump’s play for minerals in Greenland and Ukraine.

Greenland is a frozen island near the Arctic Circle. Ukraine is at war with Russia.

No question there is nothing wrong with using Greenland and Ukraine as a possible source of minerals if either could lead to a significant reduction in U.S. dependence on Chinese minerals. However, the United States has an abundance of untapped minerals. America’s minerals problem has never been a lack of resources — it’s been decades of incoherent and obstructive mining policy. Our broken mine permitting process is a case in point.

It takes, on average, 29 years in the United States from the idea for a new mine to first production, a labyrinthine process that has discouraged investment and led to heavy dependence on imported minerals and metals.

It’s no secret that China is playing a leading global role in the production of practically every key metal required for advanced technologies. In this critical aspect, the United States has become increasingly vulnerable. Working with allies and building secure mineral supply chains is undoubtedly part of the answer to meeting soaring mineral demand and loosening China’s grip on mineral supplies.

Our focus should be on ramping up domestic production and cutting the red tape holding back the industry. President Trump has an opportunity to turn the mineral crisis to our long-term advantage. The best way to achieve that is by improving the permitting system for domestic mining, cutting duplication and inefficiency while bolstering the market for responsibly produced and secure materials. Again and again, we have allowed unfair trade practices from China, Russia and other state-backed mining enterprises to undercut mining operations here. That must end.

It’s past time to recognize domestic mineral production as a strategic industry. Using various policy tools, we need to level the playing field for domestic production and ensure we are developing the secure, responsible supply chains we need. Doing so is also a significant economic opportunity. The United States has $6.2 trillion in untapped mineral resources. From rare earths to lithium and copper, our mineral reserves are vast. With advanced mapping, we are likely to learn the reserves are larger than current estimates indicate.

What we must not do is continue with Chinese dominance of global mineral supplies and ever-greater U.S. reliance on mineral imports. Today, we are import-reliant on 40 of 50 critical minerals, with China being the leading producer of 30. That is a crisis in need of big thinking.

A play for overseas metals — with their enormous hurdles to production — can’t be our only answer. It certainly shouldn’t be our first option. America’s mineral solution is right here at home. We now have to choose to seize it.

Jim Constantopoulos is a professor of geology and director of the Miles Mineral Museum at Eastern New Mexico University. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.