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What’s New This Week

Good morning, this week, as China tightens its grip on the world’s mineral supply, the U.S. is fighting back—with bold moves in Arizona and new cross-border strategies that could reshape how we trade, work, and power our economies. Meanwhile, Trump’s “immigration reform” plan is sparking outrage, and GOP insiders are sounding the alarm that his tariff obsession might backfire politically. Today, we connect the dots between global pressure and local opportunity—at the border, in the dugout, and on the factory floor.

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Trade Winds

Mineral Leverage: How China’s Export Controls Are Reshaping Global Trade—and Why the U.S. Must Act Fast

In today’s global economy, control over what’s underground is becoming as powerful as what’s online. Critical minerals—cobalt, gallium, graphite, lithium—are the raw materials powering our electric vehicles, defense systems, and clean energy future. And China has quietly built a stranglehold on the global supply.

Now, it’s tightening the grip.

In the past year, China has expanded export controls on over a dozen minerals, using them as strategic levers in its escalating trade and tech standoff with the West. From halting rare earth shipments to implementing opaque licensing procedures, China is weaponizing its mineral dominance in ways that echo past oil shocks—but with far broader implications.

As someone who served as Chief of Staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, I’ve seen how fragile supply chains can become when national security collides with global trade. And now, as CEO of Intermestic Partners, I advise companies navigating those exact risks. What’s happening isn’t theoretical—it’s real. And it’s already reshaping global commerce.

The U.S. is dangerously reliant on foreign sources—especially China—for processing and refining critical minerals. That’s the real vulnerability. Even when we mine domestically, we often ship raw materials overseas for processing. And that bottleneck? It’s controlled by Beijing.

It’s time to treat critical minerals not just as commodities, but as strategic assets.

That means:

• Fast-tracking domestic processing—like the cobalt facility being developed in Yuma, Arizona.

• Investing in binational partnerships, especially with resource-rich states in Mexico like Sonora.

• Creating a unified North American strategy to align our strengths with Canada and Mexico, reduce dependency, and build regional resilience.

We have the tools. We have the capital. What we need now is political will—and urgency.

I’ve long argued that nearshoring is North America’s most promising economic strategy. But nearshoring won’t succeed unless it’s underpinned by secure energy and reliable mineral inputs. If we want to build semiconductors in Arizona and EVs in Michigan, we need cobalt and lithium from friendly shores—and the capacity to refine them at home.

One promising example of progress is a new cobalt processing facility planned for Yuma, Arizona. Once complete, it is expected to be the first solar-powered cobalt refinery in the U.S.—and it represents a critical shift toward reshoring mineral processing capabilities. The project brings together economic development and national security objectives while attracting foreign investment through the EB-5 visa program. I’ll share more about this project and its broader significance in the next section of this newsletter.

If China is playing a long game, then we must too. That starts with investing in what we control, building with our neighbors, and never again allowing strategic resources to become geopolitical vulnerabilities.

This is the next frontier of trade—and we can’t afford to fall behind.

Power Move

Cobalt and Capital: How Yuma Is Redefining National Security Investment

In a week when China is once again tightening its grip on critical mineral exports, the U.S. took a strategic step toward reducing that dependency—and it’s happening right here in Arizona.

I’m proud to share that Intermestic Capital is partnering with EVelution Energy to help finance the first solar-powered cobalt processing facility in the United States, located in Yuma County. This project represents a bold and necessary pivot: instead of continuing to outsource the refining of critical minerals to geopolitical competitors, we’re building the capacity to do it ourselves—right at home.

What makes this even more exciting is how it’s being funded. This $200 million facility is backed in part by EB-5 immigrant investors, combining economic development with immigration opportunity. It’s a win-win—bringing foreign direct investment into the U.S. while creating local jobs and strengthening national security infrastructure.

Once operational, the facility will process enough cobalt for approximately 500,000 electric vehicle batteries annually. Cobalt is a linchpin of the clean energy transition and defense supply chains—but up until now, the U.S. had zero domestic refining capacity. We were 100% dependent on other countries, especially China. This project changes that.

From my time overseeing mission-critical programs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, I know the real cost of letting strategic vulnerabilities go unaddressed. That’s why this project is more than just an investment—it’s a model for how we should think about the intersection of security, sustainability, and smart capital.

And it’s also a signal: Arizona is ready to lead. With its access to solar power, proximity to key logistics corridors, and connection to the Mexico-U.S. supply chain, Yuma is perfectly positioned to become a hub for next-generation mineral processing and clean manufacturing.

At Intermestic, we believe in unlocking opportunity at the intersection of public interest and private capital. That’s what this project represents. It’s not just about cobalt—it’s about building resilient, regional solutions to global problems.

More to come.

The Border Buzz

The Binational Skills Gap: Can U.S.-Mexico Talent Keep Up With the Clean Tech Boom?

As nearshoring accelerates and projects like the cobalt refinery in Yuma make headlines, one challenge is becoming increasingly urgent—who will staff these next-generation industries?

The clean energy and critical mineral sectors are expanding rapidly. But across the U.S.-Mexico border region, we lack a binational workforce strategy to meet the demand for engineers, technicians, and trade specialists. In the U.S., talent pipelines are strained. In Mexico, there’s a wealth of eager young workers—yet limited access to specialized training tied to these industries.

What’s needed is a cross-border approach to workforce development.
One that links vocational programs, community colleges, and private sector demand—on both sides of the border.

Imagine:

• Joint certification programs in cobalt processing, renewable energy, or semiconductor operations.

• Apprenticeships that cross borders, allowing students to train with real industry partners and gain experience in U.S. and Mexican facilities.

• Language-accessible curricula and binational talent exchanges tied to nearshoring corridors like Yuma, Nogales, and Phoenix.

These ideas aren’t just good policy—they’re good business.
The investments coming to the border region will only succeed if the talent is there to execute.

From my experience as Mayor of Nogales and now working with cross-border investors, I’ve seen firsthand how proximity doesn’t always translate to partnership. This is a moment to change that—to build a shared workforce vision that matches the shared supply chain strategy already underway.

This isn’t only about economic alignment. It’s also cultural.
Building joint educational initiatives and training pipelines strengthens people-to-people ties—especially in border communities where family, language, and labor have always flowed back and forth.

If we’re serious about reducing our dependency on geopolitical competitors, we must start with investing in the most strategic resource we have: our people.

The Playing Field

Diamonds Without Borders: How Mexican Baseball Legends Shaped a Cross-Border Identity

With Major League Baseball back in full swing, it’s worth remembering that the story of baseball in America isn’t confined to American borders. For generations, Mexican players have helped shape the identity of the game—on both sides of the Río Grande.

From Fernando Valenzuela, the left-handed phenom from Sonora who sparked “Fernandomania” in the 1980s, to Esteban Loaiza, Vinny Castilla, and more recently, Julio Urías, Mexico has sent talent that not only dominated on the mound but also transformed the cultural experience of baseball in the U.S.

Valenzuela in particular did more than pitch complete games—he helped Mexican-Americans see themselves in the big leagues. As a Dodger in a city deeply connected to Mexico, his presence was more than athletic—it was political, cultural, and unifying.

And the connection runs both ways. U.S.-born Latino players like Adrián González, who proudly represented Mexico in international play, highlight the fluidity of identity in this game. Baseball is a mirror reflecting the intertwined nature of Mexican and American stories.

This season, as stadiums fill in Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Mexico City, baseball remains a powerful form of cultural diplomacy. It’s one of the few spaces where flags may differ, but fandom connects. Where rivalries can be fierce, but shared heritage still wins the day.

At a time when immigration, trade, and security dominate U.S.-Mexico headlines, baseball reminds us that the ties between our countries are deeper than any border wall. Our legends, our cheers, and our children’s Little League dreams all cross back and forth.

Baseball isn’t just America’s pastime—it’s North America’s shared stage. And every pitch thrown by a kid from Culiacán, Hermosillo, or Tijuana in the majors is a reminder that sports are one of the most powerful bridges we have.

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