China Using Rare Earths To Choke U.S. Industries

If U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping speak, their conversation will likely be tense.

Beijing’s ability to weaponize the rare-earth supply chain poses a serious threat to both the U.S. economy and national security. I Photo: Xinhua

Both countries have accused the other of violating a fragile, three-week-old trade truce. But when it comes to leverage, Trump may be at a disadvantage, wrote Hans van Leeuwen in The Telegraph.

China’s near-monopoly on rare-earth metals—a group of critical materials used in everything from electric vehicles and semiconductors to F-35 jets and nuclear submarines—gives Xi a powerful bargaining chip.

“Critical minerals are one of the most important bargaining chips for China in its negotiations with Washington. China will really hold on to this as a significant point of leverage,” said Matilda Buchan, senior analyst at Asia House, a London-based think tank.

Beijing’s ability to weaponize the rare-earth supply chain poses a serious threat to both the U.S. economy and national security. That pressure has reportedly already forced the White House to scale back its planned escalation of the trade war with China.