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With a name like « rare earths » you would think that the metals in this category would be, you know, rare.
They aren’t, though. They are actually pretty abundant and are even more so, given that we don’t use them in great quantity compared to other metals like copper, iron, or tin. What they are is difficult to refine in an environmentally sensitive manner.
That means that we outsource the job to countries that don’t care much about the environment, and that means, primarily in this case, to China.
China has a near monopoly on rare earth minerals that wind up in US products, and rare earth minerals have become an important part of the modern tech world–ironically enough, especially so for « environmentally friendly » tech like electric vehicles and « renewable energy. »
China suspends rare earth exports, kneecapping US industry reliant on Beijing’s ‘monopoly’ https://t.co/cWwGGfz8kl pic.twitter.com/FRqaskutHw— New York Post (@nypost) April 14, 2025
We can all laugh that our NetZero environmentalists force us to rely on countries that couldn’t give a rip about the environmental damage they do to supply our increasing demand, but the reality is that rare earths are important for a range of products that we cannot do without. And due to our reliance on China as a vital link in the supply chain, rare earth supplies are one of the cards that China has to play in the trade war game that Trump is playing.
It didn’t have to be this way, and in the long run, it still doesn’t. There are plenty of sources within the United States for rare earth deposits that can be extracted and processed, but the political will to get projects off the ground has not existed.
