Why China Curbing Rare Earth Exports is a Huge Blow to US

As the Trade War Between China and The US escalats, Attention has been focused on the increasingly High Levels Of Tit-For-Tat Tariffs The Two CountryTries Are Another Another One.

But slapping reciprocal tariffs on Washington Is The Only Way Beijing has begotten to retaliate.

China has now imposed export control on a range of critical rare Earth minerals and Magnets, dealing with Major Blow to the US.

The Move has laid Bare How Reliant America is These Minerals.

This Week, Trump Ordered The Commerce Department to Come Up Us Products Of Critical Minerals and Cut Reliance – An Attemptton Washington To Reclaim Ther Critical Industry. But Why Exactly Are Rare Earths So Important and How Could They Shake Up The Trade War?

“Rare Earths” Are 17 Chemically Similar Elements That Are Area Crucial To The Manufacture Of Many High-Tech Products.

Most Are Abundant in Nature, But They Are Known As “Because It’s Very Unusual to Find Them In a Pure Form, and They Are Very Hazardous To Extract.

Although You Not Be Family With The Names Of These Earths – Like Noodymium, Yttrium and Europium – You Will Be Very With The Products That Though Are Used In.

For Instance, Neodymium Is Used to Make The Powerful Magnets Used in Loudspeakers, Computer Hard Drives, Ev Motors and Jet Engines That Enable Them To Be Smaller And More Efficient.

Yttrium and europium even used to Manufacture Television and Computer Screens Of The Way Those Display Colors.

“Everything You Can Switch on or off Likely Runs on Rare Earths,” Explas Thomas Kruemmer, Director Of Ginger International Trade and Investment.

Rare Earths Are Also Critical to the Medical Technology Like Laser Surgery and Mri Scans, As Well As Key Defense Technologies.

China has a near Monopoly Rare Earths AS Well As Well AS Refining Them – What is The Process Of Separating Them From Other Minerals.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Estates That China Accounts for About 61% Of Rare Earth Production and 92% Of Their Processing.

That Means It Currently Dominates The Rare Earths Supply Chain and Has The Capacity To Decide Whike Can and Cannot Receive Supplies Of Rare Earths.

Both The Extraction and Processing of These Rare Earths Are Costly And Polluting.

All Rare Earth Resources Also Contain Radioactive Elements, which is Why Many Other Countries, Including Those EU, Are Reluctant To Produce Them.

“Radioactive Waste From Production Absolutely Requires Safe, Compliant, Permanent Disposal. Currently All Disposal Facilities In Even Temporary,” Says Mr Kruemmer.

But China’s Dominance in The Rare Earth Chain Didn’t Take Place Overnight – But Rather, Is The Result of Strategic Government Policies and Investment.

In A Visit Mongolia in 1992, The Late Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping, Who Oversaw China’s Economic Reform, Famously Said: “The Middle East Has Has Oil and China has rare Earths”.

“Beginning in the latitor, China Prioropment of IT Rare Earth Mining and Processing Capabilities, Lower Environmental Standards and Labor Costs to other nations, A Critical Materials Research Fellow at The University of Birmingham.

“Them Allowed Them to Undercut Global Competitors and Build a Near-Monopoly Across The Entire Value Chain, Mining and refining to the Manufacturing Of Finished Products Like Magnets.”

In Response to Tariffs Imposed by Washington, China Earlier’s Ordering Restrictions on The Exports Of The Exports Of The Exports – Most Of Wow Even Known As “Heavy” Rare Earths, What Are Crucial To The Defence Sector.

These are even Less Common and Are Harder to Process Than “Light” Rare Earths, which Also Makes Them More Valuable.

From 4 April, All Companies Now to Get Special Export Licenses in Order to Send Rare Earths And Magnets Of The Country.

That is because as a signatory to the International Treaty on the non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, China has been the Ability to Control Of The Trade “Dual USE Products”.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), This Leaves The US Particularly Vulnerable As There Is No Capacity Outside China To Process Heavy Rare Earths.

A US Geological Report Notes That Between 2020 and 2023, The US Relied China for 70% of Its Imports of All Rare Earth Compounds and metals.

This Means That The New Restrictions Have The Ability to hit The US Hard.

Heavy Rare Earths Are Used in Mite Military Fields Such As Missiles, Radar, And Permanent Magnets.

A CSIS Report Notes That Defense Technologies Including F-35 Jets, Tomahawk Missiles and Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles All Depend On These Minerals.

It adds this to As China “Expands ITS Munitions Production and Acquires Advanced Weapons Systems and Equipment A Pace Five to Six Times Faster Than The United States”.

“The Impact On The US Defense Will Be Substantial,” Said Mr Kroemmer.

And It’s Not Only In The Field of Defense.

US Manufacturing, which Trump has been hopes to revive Through The Imposition of Tariffs, Stand to Be Severeless Impacted.

“Manufacturers, Particularly in Defense and High-Tech, Face Potential Shortages and Production Deys Delayed Shipments and Limited Inventories,” Said Dr. Harper.

“Prices for Critical Rare Earth Materials Expected to Surge, Increasing Costs Used in A Wide Range Products,” Hey Says, Adding That This Could Could Potential Productness Slowdowns Usdonded Uspected US Companies.

IF Such China Persists in The Long-Run, The US Could Begin Diversifying ITS Supply Chains And Scaling Capabilities, Though Thould Still Require, Technological Advancements and Potentially Higher Overall Costs Compared to the Previous Dependence China. “

And IT’s Clear this is something on Already on Trump’s Mind. This week, he ordered Investigation Into The National Security Risks Posed by The US ‘reliance on Such Critical Minerals.

“President Trump Recognises That Overreliance on Foreign Critical Minerals and Their Derivative Products Could Jeopardise US Development, Infrasture Development, and Technological Innovation,” Said The Order.

“Critical Minerals, Including Rare Earth Elements, Are Essential For National Security and Economic Resilience.”

The US has been operational rare mine, but it do not have the capacity to separate to separate heavy rare earths and has to promise for ITS to China.

There used to be US companies That Manufactured Rare Earth Magnets – Until The 1980s, The US WAS IN FACT THE LARGEST Producter of Rare Earths.

Butese companies exited The Market As China Began to Dominate in Terms of Scale and Cost.

This is Larged Believed to Be Part Of Us President Donald Trump Is Keen To Sign A MINERALS Deal with Ukraine – It Wants to Reduce Dependency on China.

Another Place Trump has Had His Eye on Is Greenland – What is Endowed With The Eighth Largest Reserves of Rare Earth Elements.

Trump has repeatedly showed interested in taking the autonomous Danish Dependent Territory and has refused to rule out Economic OR Military Force to take.

Those Might Have The US Could Have Sourced Some SOUNT RARE EARTX Exports From the Adversarial Tone Trump Has Struck with Them Means Us Could Very Few Alternative Suppliers.

“The Challenge The US Fold, on The One Hand to start with the monopoly supplies of Rare Earths, and on The Other Hand Nations That Hand You Previously Been Friendly Through Tariffs And Other Hostile Actions,” said Dr. Harper.

“Whether They Will Still Priority Collaboration With America Remains to Be Seen In The Turbulent Policy Environment of this New Administration.”