The world’s second-biggest economy controls about 70 per cent of production and nearly all refining of a range of industrial minerals. This dominance has proved potent in negotiations with Washington.
The F-35 fighter jet favoured by the US military contains more than 400 kilograms of rare earth materials. AP
In the subterranean battlefields of global trade, one of the most potent weapons isn’t silicon or steel, but a group of 17 obscure minerals with names like neodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
Known collectively as rare earth elements, they are essential to the manufacture of everything from smartphones and electric vehicle motors to fighter jets and wind turbines.
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Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/asia/china-s-grip-on-rare-earths-a-lethal-weapon-in-us-trade-war-20250630-p5mbd5
