This was being discussed here some days ago.
HONG KONG, May 28 (Reuters) - China is “seriously considering” restricting rare-earth exports to the United States, the editor in chief of the Chinese tabloid Global Times said on Tuesday.
Rising tensions have led to concern that Beijing will use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage in the trade war between the United States and China.
“Based on what I know, China is seriously considering restricting rare earth exports to the U.S. China may also take other countermeasures in the future,” Hu Xijin wrote on his Twitter account.
http://news.trust.org/item/20190528140832-3a6p6
Stupid decisions by our government in the past coming back to haunt us.
Actually when POTUS open Alaska/Awan for oil/mineral exploration he opened probably the largest deposit in the world. There were just a few articles that mentioned it. The biggest problem is not in mining but in processing the minerals. Really dirties the air and ground. Not suitable for areas with high habitation. China has no EPA standards so they have been exposing their people to the chemicals for years. Looks like it’s time for our scientist to develop new scrubbing methods like they have for coal. (Another place the rare earth metals are found). This will be an impetus to do so. We really need to be independent from the rest of the world!