U.S.-China Rare-Earth Supply Chain Race Heats Up

Unlikely from its last commercial plate with China, the Trump administration is the turbine charging efforts to photograph the local supply chain of rare land, which is strong materials that support technology from wind turbines to F-35 combat aircraft.

China has built itself in the world’s rare power over decades for decades, and today it requires about 85 percent of treatment and more than 90 percent of magnet production. When US President Donald Trump launched his trade war in April, Beijing was exposed by taking advantage of this rare suffocation-which forced US officials at the negotiating table.

Unlikely from its last commercial plate with China, the Trump administration is the turbine charging efforts to photograph the local supply chain of rare land, which is strong materials that support technology from wind turbines to F-35 combat aircraft.

China has built itself in the world’s rare power over decades for decades, and today it requires about 85 percent of treatment and more than 90 percent of magnet production. When US President Donald Trump launched his trade war in April, Beijing was exposed by taking advantage of this rare suffocation-which forced US officials at the negotiating table.

These tensions rocked the American lawmakers, who were long familiar with the United States Minerals In recent months, a set of legislation aimed at starting the local industry has been presented. The Ministry of Defense is now going further, and it is recently concluded Millions of dollars in a deal that would see that it becomes the largest contributor to MP materials, which runs the only rare Earth mine in the United States.

However, even as lawmakers compete at the utmost speed to increase the rare land industry in the United States, the country is not outside the forest. If the rare land appears again in the spitting of trade in the United States of China, Washington will remain at least-at least in the near future.

“China can operate the tap whenever they want to stop it whenever they want and control the market,” said Naha Mukherji, an Earth analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a London-based consultant.

Expectations He was not always dark for the United States, which was once home The powerful rare industry. But the country has moved away from mining for decades with the growth of environmental fears and financial challenges that companies suffer from, and American lawmakers began to see the industry as an explicit must be Using external sources of other countries.

“We have closed our office from mines. We have reduced our financing. We have reduced us [research and development]”The Washington -based Research tank is based on Washington.

After leaving the game for a long time, it was difficult for us to go back to us, partly because of Gap This appeared when the United States turned from mining. Then there is a financial challenge. China Fist The market supply also allowed the influence of global prices, making it difficult for anyone else to compete.

Ashley Zumwalt Forbes, a former deputy director of batteries and critical materials in the US Department of Energy, said that the rare land is generally circulated in an immediate market with Chinese prices largely.

She said: “It is very popular, and even just understanding the market and understanding the rules of engagement is difficult.”

However, the Trump administration is betting that it can convert a new page. Pentagon is now ParticipationWith a recent announcement that it will return to the MP materials at an unprecedented level of support for the federal government.

According to the agreement, which is worth millions of dollars, MP materials will build a new rare land magnets factory, which the company expects to launch in 2028. The United States government has committed to purchasing factory production and setting a price for the price to help protect the company from financial breeds and market pressure, which is that Beijing can transfer.

“This is not the level of support we have ever provided to the mining sector, and it is one of the reasons why the mining sector has failed to compete in the United States,” Paskran said.

The deal is a huge victory for MP materials, which have for years Seek To sculpt a greater stake in the global market. the Company shares She rose in the aftermath of the advertisement, and this week Apple joined her 500 million dollars Partnership with a rare Earth mining worker.

Matt Slastcher, Senior Communications Office at MATERIALS, described the company’s deal with the Ministry of Defense as a “motivated major event”. And he told Foreign policy.

This wave of deals comes at the top of a set of legislation presented by legislators on both sides of the corridor. In February and March, the lawmakers of the House of Representatives and the Senate were presented Rare Earth Security law and Critical metal security lawRespectively, both aim to help Washington to secure new metal supply chains and diversify away from China.

This week, Republican Gary Palmer also presented new legislation, Securing the American Mineral Supply LawWhich would write down five executive orders issued by Trump that focus on promoting and treating local mineral production.

“Dependence on China on critical minerals poses an undeniable threat to our national security,” Palmer said in a statement. “This bill is only one step towards ending that dependency.”

Even with This momentum, many challenges await us. China dominates an overwhelming majority to separate the rare heavy land –any The United States is still It cannot do on a Commercial– Leverage In the latest trade players with Trump. To face Beijing, MP materials will need more Rare Land That does the large upload of critical inputs. With magnets, too, there is a large educational curve.

“The permanent magnets are famous for challenges from the point of view of intellectual property, as well as simply from the point of view of knowing production,” said Zumwalt-Forbes. Foreign policy Earlier this month. “This is not an industry built in the United States.”

This means that for all Washington’s efforts, China still has a strong hand to play in commercial battles in the near future. “This does not really appear as a major change in our negotiating site until MP begins to present the magnet,” said Zumwalt-Forbes.

China, too, does not stand fixed. With the outbreak of trade tensions, Beijing tightened its grip on its industry, including the development of A. An official catalog for its rare experts And take passports to monitor travel abroad.

“China is still expected, and China is still expected to maintain a large share of global supply and demand,” said Mukherji of Benchmark.

However, for the United States and its allies, the genie is outside the bottle. By using a rare Earth card in commercial negotiations, Beijing has proven in a lot of the world that it is not a reliable resource-and the damage may occur.

““They now need to face the fact that everyone will interact with this,” said Fabian Villalopos, the chief engineer in Rand.