China to use rare earth metals in trade-war against the US

[Delicieuxz]

China to roll out new rare earths policy ‘as soon as possible’

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Amid the ongoing trade war with the US, the Chinese development and reform commission is currently developing new state policies on rare earth metals, and intends to make them public as soon as possible.

The spokeswoman for the Chinese state planning agency NDRC, Meng Wei, did not provide any further details at a Monday press conference.

 

Beijing’s veiled threats to restrict exports of rare earth metals to the US have been called by many as one of China's nuclear options in a trade conflict with Washington. The US relies on China for about 80 percent of its rare earths supplies. The metals are used in everything from electric car motors and electronics to oil refining. They are also vital for US national security, as they are used in many major weapons systems.

 

Washington has reportedly started exploring opportunities to purchase rare earth metals from African countries, but they cannot provide the volume that China can. Beijing's reserves account for roughly 30 percent of the world's total, and the country dominates global supply chain as it produces more than 80 percent of them.

 

What are rare earth metals & why they are China's ‘nuclear option’ in trade war with US

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Rare earths or rare metals are a group of 17 chemical elements with special characteristics. The materials are actually not rare, despite their name, but they are difficult to find in the desirable concentrations and they are difficult to process as the ores often contain naturally occurring radioactive materials such as uranium and thorium.

 

The group consists of yttrium and the 15 lanthanide elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium). Scandium is found in the rarest earth element deposits and is also classified as a rare earth element.

 

The elements are often referred to as “rare earth oxides” because many of them are typically sold as oxide compounds.

 

China controls around 85-95 percent of all the rare earths’ production and supply. Last year, the country produced about 78 percent of the global volume of rare earths.

 

China ‘seriously considering’ restricting rare earth exports to US – Global Times chief

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Xi’s visit to one of the major rare earth processing plants sent an “unequivocal statement” to the US, according to independent political analyst Alessandro Bruno. The analyst believes that rare earth metals, essential for the military, aerospace and electronics industries, are “certainly weapons that China can use in its trade negotiation arsenal against Trump.”

 

“China controls anywhere from 85-95% of all production and supply,” Bruno told RT. He stressed that US companies are highly dependent on rare earth materials and the ban “could cripple global industry, especially emerging technologies.”

 

“China has many more options than the US when it comes to rare earths and rare earth chess games,” the analyst concluded.

 

China's other nuclear option in trade war with US – Rare earth materials

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Rare earth materials are indeed one more way China can retaliate, independent political analyst, Alessandro Bruno, told RT.

 

“It could put heavy restrictions on the rare earth metals that are necessary to make all kinds of electronic equipment, especially phones. This is a significant threat because the West does not have its own supply,” he explained.

 

The minerals are unsurprisingly not included on the US list of $200 billion worth of Chinese goods facing higher import tariffs. Shortly after Chinese and other media reported that Beijing is considering an embargo, shares of rare earth miners skyrocketed.

 

On Tuesday, the rare-earth sector jumped by 8.5 percent, according to Global Times. China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd enjoyed the biggest gains in the industry as its shares soared 108 percent.

 

The strategic importance of rare earth elements, which are mostly metals so the group is often referred to as “rare earth metals,” is hard to overestimate. We use them every day even without knowing it – from your smartphone to a laptop to hybrid or electric vehicles. Rare earths are also used in modern weapons, for example in missile guidance systems and fighter jets.

 

 

China could use rare earth metals embargo to land killer blow on US defense industry

 

 

 

I think it's a fair option for China to do this in response to the US' attacks on China's commerce and tech. However, it could mean some very unpleasant repercussions for average people, notably tech enthusiasts in the US, and maybe not just in the US but elsewhere, too, as companies might want to increase their revenue in other places to make up for lost business in the US.

 

If China does this, will there be an electronics shortage in the US? Will US tech-manufacturing companies experience big losses? Will already-high prices on electronics and PC components increase as electronics companies raise prices to compensate for diminished revenues? How will this impact the US' defence industry, which apparently relies heavily on these materials?

[lewdicrous]

Good lord..

[Guest]

I could be wrong. But I read that china's monopoly on rare earth metals was mostly infrastructure and not because there only in china.

[lewdicrous]

2 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

I could be wrong. But I read that china's monopoly on rare earth metals was mostly infrastructure and not because there only in china.

Same, heard that other countries are welling to step in and take China's place.

[Uptivuptiz]

I feel like this is the backstory to the beginning of a Fallout game...

[IntMD]

8 minutes ago, Mr. horse said:

I could be wrong. But I read that china's monopoly on rare earth metals was mostly infrastructure and not because there only in china.

Kind of, none of them are 'rare' in the sense they're only found in a couple of places, it's just that China produces and refines most of them as from what I remember they are generally pretty environmentally unfriendly to mine & refine and China has the most infrastructure to do both.

[Guest]

Just now, IntMD said:

Kind of, none of them are 'rare' in the sense they're only found in a couple of places, it's just that China produces and refines most of them as from what I remember they are generally pretty environmentally unfriendly to mine & refine and China has the most infrastructure to do both.

That sounds alot like what I read.

[Jurrunio]

because China has the most loose environmental protection laws and man power is cheap. Other countries can totally make money from it if China pulls itself out, maybe for the better side since they're doing it willingly

[Misanthrope]

I'd like to say "About time" but consider the implications: main issue with putting the breaks on technology is actually not any kind of consumer or even corporate market. It's military tech that will escalate things quickly.

 

If China hasn't gone for the kill so to speak with their control of minerals yet is because the response would be well, excessive yet expected: Americans are lead by deeply prejudiced people so if regular "neoliberals" with a conscience (Spoiler: not a thing) had no problems with wars to protect strategic interests then current administration would basically deploy immediately to go over a major invasion of Africa and all other places where key mineral operations happen.

 

Now China might be strong economically and technologically, but they know they do not cover the entire glove with military bases like the US so provoking a direct or indirect military confrontation, specially outside of their mainland (When there's arguably far more resilience on their part) would be insane.

[ravenshrike]

Yessss China, do this as a short term maneuver as part of a trade war spat. That way you force the supply and production lines to spread themselves across the world in response over the medium to long term thus permanently demolishing yet another resource you have an effective monopoly on.

[williamcll]

On other news it is reported that a manufacturer (not VIA) in China has developed 16nm x86 processors and will ship on September.

[Spotty]

- Thread locked -

While I can appreciate that this news may have implications to many industries further down the line (including the tech industry), the discussion presented here is clearly a broader political discussion.

 

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