Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 11/23/2025 11:02:01 AM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
China’s strategic stranglehold on rare earth minerals threatens America’s national security and economic independence, leaving our defense and technology sectors dangerously vulnerable to Beijing’s whims.
OVERVIEW
• China controls 85-95% of global rare earth processing through decades of state-directed monopolization
• Beijing weaponized export restrictions in April 2025, targeting seven critical rare earth elements in response to U.S. tariffs
• America’s defense, electronics, and renewable energy sectors face severe supply chain vulnerabilities
• Western efforts to break China’s chokehold require years of investment and face massive technical barriers
CHINA'S CALCULATED ECONOMIC WARFARE STRATEGY
China’s dominance over rare earth elements represents a masterclass in economic warfare that began in the 1980s. Beijing systematically undercut global competitors by flooding markets with cheap rare earths, forcing American and Western mines to close due to unsustainable pricing.
The Communist Party declared these materials strategically important in the 1990s, blocking foreign investment while pouring state resources into domestic capacity. This wasn’t market competition—it was deliberate economic conquest designed to create dependency.
The scope of China’s control extends far beyond simple mining operations. Beijing controls the entire supply chain from extraction to the complex chemical processing required to produce high-purity materials essential for advanced technologies.
State-owned enterprises like China Rare-Earths Group, which controls 70% of domestic production, operate under direct Communist Party oversight. This vertical integration gives China unprecedented leverage over global industries that depend on these critical materials for everything from military hardware to smartphones.
AMERICA'S DANGEROUS DEPENDENCY EXPOSED
The 2010 diplomatic crisis with Japan revealed the true extent of China’s stranglehold when Beijing restricted rare earth exports over a territorial dispute. This incident sent shockwaves through Western capitals as they realized their critical industries could be held hostage by Chinese political decisions.
The situation has only worsened since then, with China consolidating control through export quotas, production limits, and environmental regulations that conveniently don’t apply to state-favored enterprises.
China’s April 2025 export restrictions on seven rare earth elements demonstrate how Beijing weaponizes these materials against American interests. These new controls directly target U.S. defense contractors and technology companies, potentially disrupting production of everything from F-35 fighter jets to wind turbines.
The timing coincides with broader trade tensions, proving China views rare earths as a geopolitical weapon rather than mere commodities. This represents a clear threat to American sovereignty and industrial capacity.
BREAKING FREE FROM BEIJING'S GRIP
President Trump’s administration and allied Western governments have recognized the urgent need to break China’s rare earth monopoly. The U.S., European Union, and Australia have launched ambitious programs to develop domestic processing capabilities and secure alternative supply chains.
However, these efforts face enormous technical and financial obstacles that China has spent decades perfecting through state subsidies and environmental corner-cutting that Western nations rightfully refuse to replicate.
The path to rare earth independence requires sustained American resolve and significant investment in domestic capabilities. Companies like MP Materials are working to establish U.S. processing facilities, but achieving meaningful production scale will take years of dedicated effort.
China’s willingness to absorb massive environmental costs and subsidize unprofitable operations through state resources gives them advantages that free-market economies must overcome through innovation, efficiency, and strategic government support that protects national security without compromising conservative principles of limited government.
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
1. Rare earth industry in China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_industry_in_China
2. Detailed timeline: China’s rare earth restrictions and strategic moves https://forum.rareearthexchanges.com/threads/detailed-timeline-chinas-rare-earth-restrictions-and-strategic-moves.16/
3. China rare earth processing monopoly 2025 https://discoveryalert.com.au/china-rare-earth-processing-monopoly-2025/
4. A brief history of US-China rare earth rivalry https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/a-brief-history-of-us-china-rare-earth-rivalry/
5. Developing rare earth processing hubs: analytical approach https://www.csis.org/analysis/developing-rare-earth-processing-hubs-analytical-approach
6. Recap: How China’s rare earth monopoly is reshaping the world https://baker.utk.edu/news/recap-how-chinas-rare-earth-monopoly-is-reshaping-the-world/
7. SPF China Observer document https://www.spf.org/spf-china-observer/en/document-detail062.html
FACTOID:
Ukraine has about 5% of the world’s reserves of rare earth metals. These minerals, including lithium, cobalt, and graphite, are crucial for various technologies, particularly in renewable energy and electric vehicle batteries.
Rare earth materials are not rare.
Refining them is VERY rare. China has all of that, essentially. Do a satellite Google Earth of Guangzhou northwest of Hong Kong. The facilities are visible.
10 yrs for us to develop refining.
We are screwed. So is anyone that wants weapons from us.
China . . . is a big problem, and they are providing Russia all the magnets they want.
we have plenty of “rare” earths.
it is all about cheap.
somehow I doubt China is worried about our Dei Military or their might. I’ll bet it doesn’t keep them up at night.
VIDEOS
1. How China won the rare earth race against the U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urIuxBlUkSI
2. China’s Rare Earth Chokehold: Can Trump Break It?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwlChjL_268&t=13s
The Pentagon used to issue an [annual?] Report on the status of strategic materials.
And then a plan for the near term to secure same.
Are they still that smart?
Apparently the physical and chemical properties of those Elements are very similar and thus make separating them from each other and the ores relatively difficult.
Yup.
In a word, yup.
The stock market is going to figure this out soon, too.
Factoid: Thats a nonsensical claim based on old Soviet surveys with largest amount under the region now controlled by Russia.
To my mind we are more vulnerable because our own environmental bureaucracies have been coopted by investors in China.
I think a lot of the people have complaining about Trumps “foreign policy” have lost track of the bouncing ball or they would be aware that much of it is actually a form of domestic policy that keeps this nation viable and keeps our products flowing to other countries. There will be no jobs if there is no one to which to sell our products.
The conversation about Greenland had nothing to do with Denmark or more freedom for the inhabitants. It was mostly about rare earths and Chinas intent, along with Russias oil grab attempt, to gain access to them.
There was an attempt to bring us closer to Brazil in his last term. They have control of some interesting elements. I believe that China were the ones that were behind the fake election turning the country over to a communist and the last president being thrown in jail.
We have lost access to Brazil for now and I suspect that is why he made the recent deal with Argentina. Argentina has some rare earths but primarily access to a significant amount of Lithium. Sure, bringing in some cheap beef temporarily made voting urban dwellers happy but more importantly it allows better relations between our countries which allows us to block Chinas access. Just as China had been attempting to take over the nations of Africa by effectively holding a mortgage over those countries, so too has China been attempting to gain control of South American countries blocking our access.
At least part of the conversation about Canada doesnt really have anything to do with Canada so much as their politicians deep desire to keep receiving payments for turning Canada into a vassal state of China. Canada, along with all the oil and other resources available that people keep getting hung up on, is also a country with deposits of easily acquired rare earths. Canada is already a parasite on the US, we might as well absorb them and have direct access within what would become our own borders.
BINGO! While China has been building a new coal powerplant every week to generate cheap energy, we have been DISMANTLING coal plants and building more expensive and unreliable solar & wind power.
VIDEO
What Are Rare Earth Minerals And Why Do They Matter?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tE2HrxC8pA
ARTICLE
Ukraine–United States Mineral Resources Agreement
Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the United States of America on the Establishment of a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund
Type Framework agreement
Drafted 25 February 2025
Signed 30 April 2025
Location Washington, D.C., United States
Effective 23 May 2025
Signatories:
• Yulia Svyrydenko, Minister of Economic Development and Trade
• Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury
Parties
• Ukraine
• United States
Languages
• English
• Ukrainian
WIKISOURCE
File: Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the United States of America on the Establishment of a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund.pdf
We import lots of raw materials from Canada and Canada need not apologize for that.
America’s problems are mainly due to American stupidity and greed.
Deposits of 22 minerals out of 30 from the list of critical raw materials for the EU are concentrated in the territory of Ukraine
Map: Ukraine critical minerals & rare earths-2025
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.