U.S. To Blame For Rare Earth Shortage, Not China: New Republic

China’s effective halt of rare earth exports in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s tariff regime has reignited concerns about American overdependence on foreign sources for critical minerals.

This isn’t the first time China has weaponized rare earths: it cut off supplies to Japan in 2010 after a maritime dispute, prompting Tokyo to invest heavily in alternatives. I Photo: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS & U.S. / Japan ASTER Science Team Wikimedia Commons

Though not officially a ban, China’s new export controls have in practice disrupted the flow of these essential materials—vital for clean energy, military hardware, and tech manufacturing—The New Republic reported.

David S. Abraham argues the crisis is largely self-inflicted. While China has spent decades building industrial capacity for rare earths, the U.S. neglected its own production and processing infrastructure.

This isn’t the first time China has weaponized rare earths: it cut off supplies to Japan in 2010 after a maritime dispute, prompting Tokyo to invest heavily in alternatives.

The article notes that China’s dominance stems from industrial focus and innovation, including adapting extraction methods to cheaper infrastructure like PVC and fiberglass. Meanwhile, the U.S. allowed its early leadership in rare earth technology to erode.