As reported in The New York Times, China has already, perhaps temporarily, suspended exports of rare earths and magnets used by auto manufacturers, military contractors, and others in retaliation for Trump’s April 2 145% tariffs on many of their exports.
Two days later, China retaliated by placing 125% tariffs on many U.S. imports.
The New York Times reported that although China purportedly halted the rare earth exports to provide time to create a new regulatory system requiring special export licenses, it could permanently stop exports “to certain companies, including U.S. military contractors.”
Although China reportedly has barely begun on its new system, the process, if drawn out, could cause global supplies to dwindle, given its 90% monopoly on the world’s supply of heavy rare earth metals and magnets.
Of special military concern are supply chain impacts on drones and robotics, widely regarded as critical to the future of warfare.
The recent suspension came about 10 days after China placed export restrictions on rare earth elements that are also vital in the production of smartphones and electric car batteries.
Whereas China actually possesses only about an estimated one-third of global rare earth reserves, in 2017 it supplied 78% of the 17,000 tons of those materials imported to the U.S.
Although America has an abundance of untapped rare earth materials, environmental opposition to mining them has resulted in a regulatory minefield of local, state, and federal rules that have turned permitting into a costly, decades-long process.
Lawmakers have all but banned rare earth mineral exploration and development on materials-rich federal lands, and the few once-active mines have been shuttered largely due to compliance costs.
Until recently, the only remaining active U.S. rare earth mine, Mountain Pass in California, sent its materials to China for processing.
China has not hesitated to wield this dominance as a geopolitical bargaining tool, having halted rare earth exports to Japan amid rising tensions in 2010.
Recognizing this, President Trump signed an executive order in September 2020 declaring a national emergency and assigning responsibility to the Interior Department to increase domestic rare earth production in order to reduce America’s dependence on China for these building blocks for 21st century technologies.
The order stated, “In the 1980s, the United States produced more of these elements than any other country in the world, but China used aggressive economic practices to strategically flood the global market for rare earth elements and displace its competitors.”
That order built on Trump’s December 2017 order requiring the interior secretary to identify critical materials and reduce “the nation’s vulnerability to disruptions in the supply of critical minerals,” especially those from China and Russia.
Many of the recommendations in the 2020 order were later incorporated into the Energy Act of 2021, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which also funded COVID-19 pandemic relief.
During Trump’s final days in office, the Bureau of Land Management announced new decisions that took effect Jan. 15, 2021 to expand and fast-track permitting of potential mining — including rare earths — on federal lands.
The agency also approved a new lithium mine in Nevada, along with a land swap to ease final approval of an Arizona Twin Metals copper mine.
Then in 2023, the Biden administration blocked plans for a major mine in northern Minnesota containing an estimated 95% of the nation’s nickel reserves and 88% of American cobalt, which could have helped supply minerals for its so-called “net-zero” plans.
Making matters even worse, many of the rare earth materials mined in the U.S. are processed in China because it’s cheaper to have it done in China than to pay for American regulatory environmental and workplace safety costs.
Also in 2023, the company MP Materials inked a deal with Sumitomo Corp. to supply the Japanese giant with some key elements, such as neodymium and praseodymium, helping the trading house bypass China in rare earth supply chains for electric vehicle production.
Immediately upon returning to office, President Trump signed an executive order to make the U.S. “the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals.”
Recognizing continued dependence on hostile foreign powers for critical materials won’t end well for America. President Trump is also looking for additional friendly foreign sources.
Some speculate that rare earth minerals play a major role in his Greenland interest, with Time reporting that tech giants such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have already invested in companies prospecting for them there.
Even though Arctic resource extraction poses many challenges and would take years to develop, many companies are apparently looking at such prospects very seriously.
President Trump is right in taking bold actions now — including tough tariffs — before China’s rare earth minerals chokehold on our nation’s lifeblood industries strangles all economic and military defenses.
CFACT Advisor Larry Bell heads the graduate program in space architecture at the University of Houston. He founded and directs the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture. This article was sourced HERE
Two days later, China retaliated by placing 125% tariffs on many U.S. imports.
The New York Times reported that although China purportedly halted the rare earth exports to provide time to create a new regulatory system requiring special export licenses, it could permanently stop exports “to certain companies, including U.S. military contractors.”
Although China reportedly has barely begun on its new system, the process, if drawn out, could cause global supplies to dwindle, given its 90% monopoly on the world’s supply of heavy rare earth metals and magnets.
Of special military concern are supply chain impacts on drones and robotics, widely regarded as critical to the future of warfare.
The recent suspension came about 10 days after China placed export restrictions on rare earth elements that are also vital in the production of smartphones and electric car batteries.
Whereas China actually possesses only about an estimated one-third of global rare earth reserves, in 2017 it supplied 78% of the 17,000 tons of those materials imported to the U.S.
Although America has an abundance of untapped rare earth materials, environmental opposition to mining them has resulted in a regulatory minefield of local, state, and federal rules that have turned permitting into a costly, decades-long process.
Lawmakers have all but banned rare earth mineral exploration and development on materials-rich federal lands, and the few once-active mines have been shuttered largely due to compliance costs.
Until recently, the only remaining active U.S. rare earth mine, Mountain Pass in California, sent its materials to China for processing.
China has not hesitated to wield this dominance as a geopolitical bargaining tool, having halted rare earth exports to Japan amid rising tensions in 2010.
Recognizing this, President Trump signed an executive order in September 2020 declaring a national emergency and assigning responsibility to the Interior Department to increase domestic rare earth production in order to reduce America’s dependence on China for these building blocks for 21st century technologies.
The order stated, “In the 1980s, the United States produced more of these elements than any other country in the world, but China used aggressive economic practices to strategically flood the global market for rare earth elements and displace its competitors.”
That order built on Trump’s December 2017 order requiring the interior secretary to identify critical materials and reduce “the nation’s vulnerability to disruptions in the supply of critical minerals,” especially those from China and Russia.
Many of the recommendations in the 2020 order were later incorporated into the Energy Act of 2021, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which also funded COVID-19 pandemic relief.
During Trump’s final days in office, the Bureau of Land Management announced new decisions that took effect Jan. 15, 2021 to expand and fast-track permitting of potential mining — including rare earths — on federal lands.
The agency also approved a new lithium mine in Nevada, along with a land swap to ease final approval of an Arizona Twin Metals copper mine.
Then in 2023, the Biden administration blocked plans for a major mine in northern Minnesota containing an estimated 95% of the nation’s nickel reserves and 88% of American cobalt, which could have helped supply minerals for its so-called “net-zero” plans.
Making matters even worse, many of the rare earth materials mined in the U.S. are processed in China because it’s cheaper to have it done in China than to pay for American regulatory environmental and workplace safety costs.
Also in 2023, the company MP Materials inked a deal with Sumitomo Corp. to supply the Japanese giant with some key elements, such as neodymium and praseodymium, helping the trading house bypass China in rare earth supply chains for electric vehicle production.
Immediately upon returning to office, President Trump signed an executive order to make the U.S. “the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals.”
Recognizing continued dependence on hostile foreign powers for critical materials won’t end well for America. President Trump is also looking for additional friendly foreign sources.
Some speculate that rare earth minerals play a major role in his Greenland interest, with Time reporting that tech giants such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have already invested in companies prospecting for them there.
Even though Arctic resource extraction poses many challenges and would take years to develop, many companies are apparently looking at such prospects very seriously.
President Trump is right in taking bold actions now — including tough tariffs — before China’s rare earth minerals chokehold on our nation’s lifeblood industries strangles all economic and military defenses.
CFACT Advisor Larry Bell heads the graduate program in space architecture at the University of Houston. He founded and directs the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture. This article was sourced HERE
3 comments:
Larry great article. This is why I have invested heavily into rare earth companies (Non chinese). I have a feeling that they could do well over the next decade or 2...
EV's ( evaporating value) and net zero keep giving......... well to China anyway.
Trump wouldn't know a rare earth metal if he tripped over over, however, rare Earth's are going to trip him up.
Ignorance again, and surely his advisors told him about this horseshoe nail ?
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