Blue Star NBR’s nitrile butadiene rubber facility in Wytheville, Virginia, May 2023. Photo courtesy of the author.

Journal of Political Risk, Vol. 14, No. 2, February 2026

By Scott Maier 

The U.S. spent more than $200 billion to establish a thriving domestic semiconductor industry. It  recently took urgent action to secure critical minerals and rare earth metals for defense, AI, and other critical technological applications. It took these actions because it is unsafe to continue relying on a foreign adversary, China, for critical goods and the raw materials used to produce them. 

What all of the above items have in common is that nitrile gloves are required in their manufacturing process. While most people associate nitrile gloves with doctors and nurses, healthcare represents only 30% of their use. The majority of gloves, 50%-60%, are used in an industrial setting. All of the  critical manufacturing areas where the Department of War is supporting reshoring efforts require  workers to wear gloves: critical minerals, rare earth elements, composite materials, batteries,  industrial magnets, and energetics (TNT, C4 and other explosives). 

We are still importing 99% of our glove needs with China controlling 90% or more of the market through both finished goods and selling the raw materials needed to make gloves to Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. China can easily weaponize this simple item and shut down production in  hundreds of billions of dollars worth of newly built U.S. factories.  

Domestic semiconductor chips will likely cost at least 30% more than chips we have purchased in the  past. Similarly, for the foreseeable future, rare earths extracted and refined outside of China will be  more expensive. Furthermore, deals for these goods sometimes establish price floors and guaranteed  demand, in addition to public financing of factory construction, to ensure their success. 

All of this may be anathema to economic libertarians, but in matters of national security, libertarian  arguments must take a back seat. The Trump Administration public policy has rightly accepted the  higher costs of these goods because the security provided by their reliable supply is a greater benefit. 

The logic stems from the unacceptable risk of China cutting off (or credibly threatening to cut off)  these critical supplies to the U.S. during a geopolitical dispute. Many foreign policy analysts now view China as a post-peak nation, carrying with it increased risk of aggressive behavior outside its borders to counter negative long-term trends within them. Time may thus be short before China  tests U.S. resolve and America’s ability to deter or repel aggressive Chinese actions. 

This logic should apply to all critical goods, but the nitrile glove industry, in which I am involved, is  particularly critical. This is because so many other industries depend on the steady supply of these gloves to function. Aside from all of the Department of War related industries, nitrile gloves are  needed to operate semiconductor factories, manufacture pharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical  ingredients (APIs), key starting materials (KSMs), process meat, and safely operate in the oil and  natural gas industries. They are also needed, of course, for the safe treatment of patients by medical  professionals. 

If China cuts this supply off, all these other critical industries will be significantly impaired if not  shut down entirely. What good is having a $200 billion subsidized Intel fabrication facility if the  workers do not have access to cleanroom gloves?

Gloves, however, are a $0.03 commodity and therefore face a unique challenge when enticing private investment. Without public policy support, businesses will continue to spend a penny less  per glove buying from China or other East Asian nations. This would leave many critical industries at risk. 

To help secure critical industries with a robust domestic nitrile glove industry, the government should: 

• Finance the construction of glove factories through loans, grants, or their combination.  Waiting for market forces or the effects of public policy leading to private investment is too  risky, given domestic and international uncertainties. 
• Guarantee a demand and price floor through long-term contracts with domestic glove manufacturers (and manufacturers of gloves’ source material, NBR) 
• Place Section 232 tariffs on nitrile gloves to prevent China from playing shell games with  manufacturing locations 

Public policy measures such as these are not unique to the glove industry. In fact, while J.P. Morgan is weighing a $1.5 trillion investment in domestic industries, it has demanded the U.S. either invest, as well, or guarantee demand for goods, before the bank invests in their production. 

The bottom line is that times have changed, but public policy has not fully caught up. We are too  dependent on too many critical goods, leaving us too vulnerable. Only deliberate, mapped-out  government action in support of specific industries will dig America out of its dependence hole. Yet  the lingering influence of arguments favoring a more laissez-faire approach to national security  perpetuates a chicken or egg argument that is causing endless delay and endangering the nation. 

Goods are either critical or they are not. Rare earths are. Critical minerals are. Semiconductor chips  are. And it is time for public policy to treat nitrile gloves as the critical goods that they are, through  public policies that guarantee they can serve the national interest in times of need.

Scott Maier is the Co-Founder & CEO of Blue Star NBR, a vertically integrated manufacturer of nitrile gloves founded in 2019.  Mr. Maier has 25 years of private equity, venture capital, and operations experience.  In 2015, Mr. Maier founded Bird Dog Distributors, a medical and surgical supply company and in 2016 it acquired Unifuse’s plastic manufacturing operations. From 2008-2014, Mr. Maier assisted private equity funds with the turnaround and management of their portfolio companies.  His titles have included COO, CFO, and Director of Operations and Business Development. From 2000 to 2008, Mr. Maier worked for two private equity funds managing investment transactions totaling over $1 billion.