“If any country wants to use products made of China’s #rareearth exports to contain China’s development, the Chinese people would not be happy with that,” a Chinese official said when asked about whether rare earth will be used as a countering weapon in the China-US #tradewar. pic.twitter.com/AH1XpgUrew— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 28, 2019
CNBC: China appears to make veiled threat about rare earth minerals crucial to US technology industry
* A Chinese official warned that products using China’s rare earth minerals should not be used against China’s development.
* The comment from the official, from the Chinese economic planning agency, was seen as a veiled threat aimed at the U.S. and its technology industry.
* But analysts believe it would be difficult for China to immediately use the materials against the U.S. since U.S. imports of rare earths are relatively small, but the minerals are embedded in all sorts of technology, like cell phones and computers.
Speculation that China could use its dominance in rare earth minerals as a weapon in the trade war intensified after a Chinese official warned that products made from the materials should not be used against China’s development.
The comment, reported by CCTV, was taken as a veiled threat aimed at the U.S. and its technology firms who are dependent on the materials. Last week, China President Xi Jinping visited rare earth mining and processing facilities, adding to speculation that China could make the minerals more expensive or unavailable if the trade war continues to expand.
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Update #1: China could unleash a secret weapon in the tech Cold War (Business Insider)
Update #2: China ‘seriously considering’ restricting rare earth exports to US – Global Times chief (RT)
WNU Editor: This is the second time that China has issued this threat. Are they serious? I think they are bluffing. Blocking exports of rare earths is only going to motivate other world suppliers to step in and expand their production of these minerals.
The US has its own supply of rare-earth minerals at a mine in CA. Currently the ore is shipped elsewhere to be processed for the extracted minerals. An Australian firm just signed a deal to process that ore at a Texas factory with production starting end of 2019.
ReplyDeleteSo looks like whatever leverage China has will not last long.
They would need to quantify this effect, I don't think this amounts to anything and now we can make this stuff synthetically or find alternatives. China is just going to have to understand we are in the strong position; their not!
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ReplyDeleteThey are poor scholars of markets if they think other deposits all over the world won't be mined and sold.
http://metalpedia.asianmetal.com/metal/rare_earth/resources&production.shtml
ReplyDeleteAccording to the link China has 55% of the worlds REE resource, Russia and former members of the Soviet Union 19%, The USA has 13%. Think REE, think lithium batteries.
The discovery of REE in Afghanistan in 2010 apparently puts that country 6th on the list but while Afghanistan is mentioned the positioning relative to the world's resource is not discussed nor has the extent of the resource been determined.
That last point provides a hint as to why the US is not about to exit Afghanistan, at least not just yet.