Fears rise China could weaponise rare earths in US tech war

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

Then do it... instead of just publishing articles in the news. USA did it.

u're mistaken.

the CHinese government did not publish any of these. It's what the international media interprets of the symbolism behind Xi's visit to a rare earth's mine, accompined by Liu He, China's point man with America in the trade war.

adding on:

Explainer: China's rare earth supplies could be vital bargaining chip in U.S. trade war

WASHINGTON - Rare earth elements are used in a wide range of consumer products, from iPhones to electric car motors, as well as military jet engines, satellites and lasers.

WHAT ARE RARE EARTHS USED IN?

Rare earths are used in rechargeable batteries for electric and hybrid cars, advanced ceramics, computers, DVD players, wind turbines, catalysts in cars and oil refineries, monitors, televisions, lighting, lasers, fiber optics, superconductors and glass polishing.

Several rare earth elements, such as neodymium and dysprosium, are critical to the motors used in electric vehicles.



RARE EARTHS IN MILITARY EQUIPMENT

Some rare earth minerals are essential in military equipment such as jet engines, missile guidance systems, antimissile defense systems, satellites, as well as in lasers.

Lanthanum, for example, is needed to manufacture night vision devices.

The U.S. Defense Department accounts for about 1% of U.S. demand, which in turn accounts for about 9% of global demand for rare earths, according to a 2016 report from the congressional U.S. Government Accountability Office.



WHICH COMPANIES ARE MOST DEPENDENT ON CHINESE SUPPLIES?

Companies such as Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Corp and BAE Systems Plc all make sophisticated missiles that use rare earths metals in their guidance systems, and sensors. Lockheed and BAE declined to comment. Raytheon did not respond to a request for comment.

Apple Inc uses rare earth elements in speakers, cameras and the so-called "haptic" engines that make its phones vibrate. The company says the elements are not available from traditional recyclers because they are used in such small amounts they cannot be recovered.

Since 2010, the government and private industry have built up stockpiles of rare earths and components that use them, according to Eugene Gholz, a former senior Pentagon supply chain expert, who teaches at the University of Notre Dame.

Some suppliers have scaled back their use of such elements, he said.



WHAT ARE RARE EARTHS AND WHERE DO THEY OCCUR?

Rare earth metals are a group of 17 elements - lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium, yttrium - that appear in low concentrations in the ground.

Although they are more abundant than their name implies, they are difficult and costly to mine and process cleanly. China hosts most of the world's processing capacity and supplied 80% of the rare earths imported by the United States from 2014 to 2017. In 2017, China accounted for 81% of the world's rare earth production, data from the U.S. Geological Survey showed.

Importers made limited efforts to reduce rare earth consumption and dependence on China after a diplomatic dispute between China and Japan in 2010. Japan accused China of halting rare earth supplies for political reasons, sparking recognition worldwide of the risks of dependence on one supplier. China denied it had halted supplies.

Few alternative suppliers were able to compete with China, which is home to 37% of global rare earths reserves.

California's Mountain Pass mine is the only operating U.S. rare earths facility. But MP Materials, owner of Mountain Pass, ships the roughly 50,000 tonnes of rare earth concentrate it extracts each year from California to China for processing. China has imposed a tariff of 25% on those imports during the trade war.

Australia's Lynas Corporation Ltd this week said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Texas-based Blue Line Corp to build a rare earth processing facility in the United States.

Rare earths are also mined in India, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Estonia, Malaysia and Brazil.



HOW ARE RARE EARTHS AFFECTED BY U.S. TARIFFS?

So far, the U.S. government has exempted rare earths from tariffs on Chinese goods.



OPTIONS TO REDUCE RELIANCE ON CHINESE IMPORTS

U.S. senators introduced legislation in May to encourage development of domestic supplies.

Recycling has also emerged as a potential source for rare earth minerals.

Nebraska-based Rare Earth Salts is taking old fluorescent light tubes and recycling them for their rare earth elements, which comprise about 20 percent of the bulb, according to the Association of Lamp and Mercury Recyclers. REUTERS
Rising tensions between the United States and China have sparked concerns that Beijing could use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage in the trade war between the two global economic powers.

Few alternative suppliers were able to compete with China, which is home to 37% of global rare earths reserves.

despite them not being rare, China ultimately, still has more than 1/3 of the world's 'rare' earths supply.

Although they are more abundant than their name implies, they are difficult and costly to mine and process cleanly. China hosts most of the world's processing capacity and supplied 80% of the rare earths imported by the United States from 2014 to 2017. In 2017, China accounted for 81% of the world's rare earth production, data from the U.S. Geological Survey showed.

it's the difficulty of producing them that is difficult.

California's Mountain Pass mine is the only operating U.S. rare earths facility. But MP Materials, owner of Mountain Pass, ships the roughly 50,000 tonnes of rare earth concentrate it extracts each year from California to China for processing. China has imposed a tariff of 25% on those imports during the trade war.

America's only rare earths mine still has to send their yields to China for refining. This amplifies the challenges that rare earths producers face, with the only solutions on a scale that exists only in China.

 

[Bussard Ramjet]

Too much talk!

Too little action!

China is gaining a reputation for being all talk and no action in the international community.

The Americans don't even think China will retaliate because they think Chinese simply are too weak in a position to retaliate.

 

[Viet]

Well, because you and your country are quite poor, you don't quite understand the maxim that "time is money". The world doesn't have forever to wait for layabouts like Vietnam to get up and running - it needs reliable supply. It's really nice that you have reserves, do you have the mining equipment to exploit them? Where are you going to send them for processing (guess who has all the processing capacity)? What are you going to do with the tailings (this might be an easy one, since when did poor people like you care about the environment)? How quickly can you get all this set up?

This isn't like your VinDiesel "partnership" with BMW where BMW does everything and you put in the chairs and then sell it. China's the only one on Earth with the know-how to process rare earths, and it doesn't feel like sharing that know-how. National security, you understand.

Pls don’t brag, you once only made bicycles. The West became long rich before trading with China. Insult Vietnam is rediculous.

 

[Han Patriot]

Too much talk!

Too little action!

China is gaining a reputation for being all talk and no action in the international community.

The Americans don't even think China will retaliate because they think Chinese simply are too weak in a position to retaliate.

We did retaliate on 120 bil of their goods, out of 180bil in exports. Teach me how to retaliate when they export so little.

 

[sinait]

Too much talk!

Too little action!

China is gaining a reputation for being all talk and no action in the international community.

The Americans don't even think China will retaliate because they think Chinese simply are too weak in a position to retaliate.

Too MUCH TALK!
Too little action!
INDIA HAS GAINED a reputation for being all talk and no action in the international community.
The Americans don't even think INDIA will retaliate because they KNOW INDIA simply are too weak in a position to retaliate.

There, I corrected your spelling for you with FACTS TO BOOT.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...retaliatory-import-tariffs-on-u-s-goods-again
India Postpones Retaliatory Import Tariffs on U.S. Goods Again.

Please India, don't postpone anymore, but cancel your retaliatory Import Tariff.
INDIA IS A DISGRACE.
.

 

[Zsari]

The US has hit China where it hurts by going after its telecom champion Huawei, but Beijing's control of the global supply of rare earths used in smartphones and electric cars gives it a powerful weapon in their escalating tech war.

A seemingly routine visit by President Xi Jinping to a Chinese rare earths company this week is being widely read as an obvious threat that Beijing is standing ready for action.

"We should firmly grasp the strategic basis of technological innovation, master more key core technologies and seize the commanding heights of industry development," Xi said during the visit, the official Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday.

"Rare earth is not only an important strategic resource, but also a non-renewable resource," he added, in comments likely to further fuel speculation.

However, analysts say China appears apprehensive to target the minerals just yet, possibly fearful of shooting itself in the foot by hastening a global search for alternative supplies of the commodities.

Xi's inspection tour "is no accident, this didn't happen by chance," said Li Mingjiang, China programme coordinator at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.

"At this moment, clearly the policy circles in China are considering the possibility of using a rare earth exports ban as a policy weapon against the US."

The United States last week threatened to cut supplies of US technology needed by Chinese telecom champion Huawei, which Washington suspects is in bed with China's military.

The US move has fanned speculation that Xi could impose retaliatory measures and in an indication of the importance of rare earths to the US, Washington did not include them in a tariffs increase on Chinese goods this month.(revealing America's weakness)

- China has leverage -

China occupies a commanding position, producing more than 95 percent of the world's rare earths, and the United States relies on China for upwards of 80 percent of its imports.

Rare earths are 17 elements critical to manufacturing everything from smartphones and televisions to cameras and lightbulbs.

That gives Beijing tremendous leverage in what is shaping up largely as a battle between the US and China over who will own the future of high-tech.

"China could shut down nearly every automobile, computer, smartphone and aircraft assembly line outside of China if they chose to embargo these materials," James Kennedy, president of ThREE Consulting, wrote Tuesday in National Defense, a US industry publication.

China has been accused of using its rare earth leverage for political reasons before.

Japanese industry sources said it temporarily cut off exports in 2010 as a territorial row flared between the Asian rivals, charges that Beijing denied.

In 2014, the World Trade Organization ruled the country had violated global trade rules by restricting exports of the minerals.

The case was brought by the United States, European Union and Japan, which accused China of curbing exports to give its tech companies an edge over foreign rivals. China has cited environmental damage from mining and the need to conserve supplies as the reason for any past limits on output.

While disruptive, any leverage gained from a supply block may be short-lived, experts said.

"This would accelerate moves to find alternative supply sources," said Kokichiro Mio, who studies China's economy at NLI Research Institute.

- Empty threat? -

China is not the only country with sizeable reserves of rare earths.('rare' earths are not rare at all- it's the mining, processing, refining, handling and storing them that is difficult)

The United States Geological Survey estimated last year there were 120 million tons of deposits worldwide including 44 million in China, 22 million in Brazil and 18 million in Russia.

China is the leading producer partly because the environmental risks deter some countries from harvesting their own deposits. Mining rare earths creates toxic waste and the potential release of harmful radioactive tailings.

"There is a possibility that China would go ahead (with export curbs) but chances are what we are seeing now is just a threat," Mio said.

"The US would be in trouble over a short period of time. But it is unlikely that they (China) want to pour oil on the flames."

During Monday's visit, Xi was accompanied by Vice Premier Liu He, who has led China in fraught trade negotiations with Washington -- a fact not lost on China-watchers.


State media coverage of the visit was dry, but a commentary on a social media account run by the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, stressed China's dominance in the global supply chain and the relative paucity of US output.

Meanwhile, cutting off the United States would mark a sharp escalation that Beijing may not have the stomach for, said Li of the RSIS.

"The difference is the US is targeting specific Chinese companies. If China targets the US as a country... that may be regarded by the US and the world as a significant escalation of the trade war," he said.

burs-dma-lth/gle

While rare earth as a strategic resources should be tightly controlled in the first place, the best response at this stage should be voiding US IP in China. China has been slowing the approval of new US IP, but voiding existing IP would be a better message.

Already discussed

Empty threat!

Vietnam and Brazil can jump in and provide the markets.

Rare earth is not just about the reserve, but the concentration of these reserve. If it's not in concentration, then extraction will be very costly. Geography is very different in different parts of the world, just as oil extraction in Russia and Venezuela is at a different cost than those from the middle east.

 

[ohmrlobalobayeh]

Too MUCH TALK!
Too little action!
INDIA HAS GAINED a reputation for being all talk and no action in the international community.
The Americans don't even think INDIA will retaliate because they KNOW INDIA simply are too weak in a position to retaliate.

There, I corrected your spelling for you with FACTS TO BOOT.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...retaliatory-import-tariffs-on-u-s-goods-again
India Postpones Retaliatory Import Tariffs on U.S. Goods Again.

Please India, don't postpone anymore, but cancel your retaliatory Import Tariff.
INDIA IS A DISGRACE.
.

yup, no backbone. Indian men's impotence predisposition is well-known via their myriad of health problems mainly associated with body fat levels and diabetes.

it has apparently got affected by how they react towards real-world threats as well.

lolx thx.