From manufacturing and infrastructure to energy production and defense technologies, critical minerals power many of the industries American workers rely on every day. But much of the nickel powering those supply chains still comes from overseas, where exploitative labor practices and artificially low production costs have helped undercut fair competition for American workers and industries.
Over the past several decades, the United States has grown increasingly dependent on foreign countries for many of the critical minerals needed to support manufacturing, advanced technologies, energy infrastructure, and defense systems. Today, countries like Indonesia dominate global nickel production, while China maintains significant influence over mineral processing and supply chains. The Trump administration has made rebuilding domestic critical mineral production a priority, emphasizing reshoring supply chains, strengthening American manufacturing, and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign adversaries.
In Alaska, one company is working to help bring part of that supply chain home. Alaska Energy Metals is developing the Nikolai project, a large-scale nickel deposit that could eventually help meet a substantial share of U.S. nickel demand and create jobs for Americans.
But projects like Nikolai face a real obstacle: cheap imports made under abusive labor conditions abroad. When global supply chains depend on minerals produced with forced or child labor, American workers and businesses pay the price.
“It’s been uphill ever since we’ve made the discovery because we’re fighting unfair labor practices… from elsewhere in the world,” said Alaska Energy Metals President and CEO Greg Beischer.
Beischer and board member Corri Feige described the Nikolai project as part of a broader effort to strengthen domestic supply chains, expand American mining jobs, and reduce reliance on foreign nickel production. Company leaders argued that dependence on foreign-controlled mineral supply chains leaves the United States vulnerable to supply disruptions and geopolitical pressure.
“The U.S. cannot find ourselves in a position where we’re that vulnerable, and so we need to move mining and mineral processing back to U.S. soil,” said Feige.
Beischer and Feige pointed to growing competitive pressures on the domestic nickel industry from low-cost overseas production driven by labor exploitation. In some countries, weak labor protections and the use of forced labor, child labor, or other exploitative labor practices drive down production costs, making it difficult for American companies operating under strong labor standards to compete fairly.
“If standards are lower in other countries, it’s less expensive to produce,” said Beischer. “So, it makes it very difficult for us to compete.”
Expanding domestic mineral production can help reduce U.S. dependence on supply chains linked to labor abuses while creating good-paying jobs in mining, engineering, transportation, logistics, manufacturing, and other industries tied to critical mineral production.
That’s why the U.S. Department of Labor’s ILAB is working to stop forced and child labor in critical minerals supply chains abroad. ILAB’s TVPRA List identifies 14 critical minerals made with forced labor overseas—exposing these abuses and informing U.S. efforts to stop these minerals from flooding U.S. markets.
And earlier this year, the Department of Labor announced $22 million in funding aimed at combating labor exploitation in global nickel and cobalt supply chains in Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo while supporting fair competition and strengthening critical American industries tied to manufacturing, energy production, and national security.
ILAB efforts can thus help domestic projects like Nikolai, which represent more than a mining investment. They are part of a broader push to rebuild America’s industrial base, secure domestic critical mineral supply chains, and ensure the industries of the future are built by American workers—not exploited foreign labor.