Pentagon And Japan Are Working together To Break China's Monopoly On Rare Earths

A rare earth mine in China. Rare earths are essential to many technology products, and China provides most of the world’s supply. Reuters

Pentagon Challenges Chinese Monopoly On Rare Earths -- Stars and Stripes/Bloomberg

The Pentagon and Toyota are trying to crack China's global monopoly on mining the most valuable rare earths used in unmanned military drones and electric-car motors.

The U.S. Department of Defense and Asia's biggest carmaker are working with Canada's Ucore Rare Metals and Matamec Explorations, which are developing North American mines that would boost supplies of so-called heavy rare earths. Those are the less abundant members of a group of 17 chemically similar elements critical to make a host of products from wind turbines to high-performance magnets for cars and weapons.

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My Comment: It is not only because China is restricting exports that concerns customers like the Pentagon and Japan, but it is also because there is legitimate fear that China will ban exports to governments that it is in disagreement with.