r/worldnews • u/Significant-Colour • 1d ago

China strikes back at Trump with 34 percent tariff — bans rare earth exports to the U.S.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/china-strikes-back-on-trump-tariffs-bans-rare-earth-exports-to-the-u-s
45.3k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

97

u/Significant-Colour 1d ago

I was doing some more reading:

China accounted for around 69% of the world’s production of rare earth ores in 20234. Far behind are the United States (12%), Burma (11%) and Australia (5%). Once these ores have been extracted, they need to be processed to separate, purify and refine each of the rare earths. However, China is the only country that carries out all these stages, with Australia and the United States selling some of their semi-processed ores back to China to complete the refining! China thus produces 85% of the purified light rare earths used worldwide, and 100% of the heavy rare earths.

https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/columns/geopolitics/china-has-a-monopoly-on-rare-earths/

Yeah. All the cards.

7

u/bigredone15 1d ago

This is primarily a regulatory constraint, not any physical one. We have the minerals and we have the know how to process them. We have chosen not to in the past for various reasons.

4

u/imminatural 19h ago

We have chosen not to in the past for various reasons.

Don't beat around the bush. It's because mines and refineries poison our water and land and do not enrich local communities. Nobody wants a lithium mine cancer lake in their backyard once operations close down in 10-20 years.

1

u/ConradMayhew 13h ago

So, if I understand correctly, that's the endgame for the invasion of Canada or Greenland? They want places where to install rare earth mining and processing facilities, so that these cancers end up in someone else's backyard? Is that it?

2

u/imminatural 11h ago

You can't nor need to force it. Having unlimited currency means you can just finance infrastructure projects...if the people want to do so. Which nobody does for critical mineral refining - except the Chinese, because the CCP is willing to take a low rate of return on their investments (if they even make their money back at all) and poison their citizens (save on project delays by not assessing for environmental damage) for a future advantage, and it's finally paid off.

Invading Greenland is because it makes the line to bomb the middle east, China, and Russia just a hair shorter, giving them less time to react. It's not complicated, it's just the 21 century version of the Cuban missile crisis - all kicked off by nuclear weapons and the desire to get them closer to your enemies: long to medium, medium to short, short to nuclear weapons in nuclear powered submarines popping up next to your adversary's capital.

2

u/imminatural 11h ago

And if you think it was a good reason back during the Cuban missile crises the first time either...

3

u/Linooney 1d ago

Mostly for health and environmental reasons. And with the dismantling of so many regulatory agencies, I guess Americans are about to find out either way lol.

2

u/KingofMadCows 1d ago

Afghanistan has a lot of rare earth metals. Maybe Trump will invade them again.

2

u/grumpyhusky 1d ago

You have no cards USA!!

3

u/trumpsucks12354 1d ago

We have a Trump card!

1

u/Printer-Pam 1d ago

Now Trump administration will team up with their buddies in Iran and Russia to learn how to evade sanctions and source rare earth metals.