SDECOND TAKE
BLOOMBERG OPINION: Pentagon takes steps to counter China’s rare-earth monopoly
US imports 80% of its rare-earth compounds and metals from China
Recent reports that China might ban exports of rare-earth refining technologies set off another round of worries about its near-stranglehold over the minerals critical to modern technology. It’s a threat US president Joe Biden’s administration needs to take seriously.
China’s leverage over the US is real. Rare earths — a family of 17 elements with similar chemical properties — are integral to all manner of 21st-century products, from iPhones to electric vehicles to wind turbines. They are especially crucial to advanced weapons systems: a single F-35 fighter jet requires more than 400kg of the stuff; a Virginia-class submarine 10 times as much...
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