China has chosen its battlefield wisely. From Lorenzo Maria Pacini at strategic-culture.su:
When you become the world’s largest economic power, you have to be prepared for a battle.
When you become the world’s largest economic power, you have to be prepared for a battle.
China is ready to fight to secure its supremacy in rare earths.
While the world’s attention was focused on the so-called ceasefire “imposed” by US President Donald Trump in Gaza, his 20-point “peace plan” and diplomatic maneuvers in West Asia, an unexpected decision by Beijing suddenly redrew both the global economic map and the framework of US-China relations. On October 9, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced new regulations imposing severe restrictions on the export of rare earth elements, a move that directly affects the defense and semiconductor industries, shattering the already fragile détente between Washington and Beijing.
It is no exaggeration to say that Beijing’s announcement infuriated Trump. The next day, the US president launched an attack on Truth Social, declaring that, starting November 1, the United States would impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports. Trump accused China of “holding the world hostage,” writing: “China is putting all countries in a difficult position with rare earths. This is particularly inappropriate at a time when the peace plan for Gaza is underway!”
The highly anticipated meeting between Xi and Trump scheduled for the APEC summit now seems unlikely (or will we see a twist?).
But what are we talking about in detail?
The importance of rare earth elements
From a chemical point of view, rare earth elements refer to a group of 17 metallic substances: 15 from the lanthanide series of the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium. Despite their misleading name, these elements are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust; what makes them “rare” is that commercially exploitable concentrations are rare and the separation process is extremely complicated. They are essential to modern technology: they are used in electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines, smartphones, and advanced military equipment such as fighter jet radars.
