Rare earth materials are indeed one more way China can retaliate.
China's other nuclear option in trade war with US – Rare earth materials
RT : 22 May, 2019
Beijing has yet another economic weapon to use against Washington in the escalating trade row – a possible embargo on vital rare earth metals needed to make everything from high-tech devices to fighter jets.
A routine visit by President Xi Jinping to a Chinese rare earths facility earlier this week came amid rising tensions between the two countries and shortly after the US turned up the heat on Chinese tech giant Huawei. Despite the lack of any official announcement from Beijing, the visit has triggered fears that China is ready to use the materials, specifically a ban on their export, as an advantage against the US.
Rare earth materials are indeed one more way China can retaliate, independent political analyst, Alessandro Bruno, told RT.
“It could put heavy restrictions on the rare earth metals that are necessary to make all kinds of electronic equipment, especially phones. This is a significant threat because the West does not have its own supply,” he explained.
The minerals are unsurprisingly not included on the US list of $200 billion worth of Chinese goods facing higher import tariffs. Shortly after Chinese and other media reported that Beijing is considering an embargo, shares of rare earth miners skyrocketed.
On Tuesday, the rare-earth sector jumped by 8.5 percent, according to Global Times. China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd enjoyed the biggest gains in the industry as its shares soared 108 percent.
The strategic importance of rare earth elements, which are mostly metals so the group is often referred to as “rare earth metals,” is hard to overestimate. We use them every day even without knowing it – from your smartphone to a laptop to hybrid or electric vehicles. Rare earths are also used in modern weapons, for example in missile guidance systems and fighter jets.
So it is obvious that American industries would suffer a painful blow should China cut the supplies. The most painful part for the US is that China has a virtual monopoly in the sphere, as it accounts for around 80 percent of the imports, according to the US Geological Survey. This could make Beijing's ban on such materials a nuclear option against Washington.
The US used to be the largest rare-earths-producing country in 1990, but China has stolen the crown long ago. In 2018, Beijing mined 120,000 tons of the materials – a 15,000-ton increase compared to a year earlier, while the US produced just 15,000 tons in total. China holds 44 million tons of the elements if its reserves, while the US just 1.4 million tons.
“To demonstrate their strategic importance, rare earths are among the few Chinese items that Trump (or his officials) has excluded from the list of items subject to extra tariffs/duties,” the expert said, adding that “China understands the strategic importance of rare earths and it establishes export quotas.”
The United States relies on China, the leading global supplier, for about 80 percent of its rare earths.
But what are rare earths, what are they used for, and why do they matter for all of us?
Rare earths or rare metals are a group of 17 chemical elements with special characteristics. The materials are actually not rare, despite their name, but they are difficult to find in the desirable concentrations and they are difficult to process as the ores often contain naturally occurring radioactive materials such as uranium and thorium.
The group consists of yttrium and the 15 lanthanide elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium). Scandium is found in the rarest earth element deposits and is also classified as a rare earth element.
The elements are often referred to as “rare earth oxides” because many of them are typically sold as oxide compounds.
China controls around 85-95 percent of all the rare earths’ production and supply. Last year, the country produced about 78 percent of the global volume of rare earths.
The metals and alloys that contain them are used in many devices that people use every day such as computer memory, DVDs, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, catalytic converters, magnets, fluorescent lighting and so on.
During the past 20 years, there has been an explosion in demand for many items that require rare earth metals. There were very few cell phones in use then but the number has risen to over seven billion in use today. Rare earths’ use in computers has grown almost as fast as the number of cell phones.
Many rechargeable batteries are made with rare earth compounds. Demand for the batteries is being driven by demand for portable electronic devices such as cell phones, readers, portable computers, and cameras.
Rare earths are also used as catalysts, phosphors, and polishing compounds for air pollution control, illuminated screens on electronic devices, and much more. All of those products are expected to experience rising demand. The military uses rare earth elements in night-vision goggles, precision-guided weapons, communications equipment, GPS equipment, batteries, and other defense electronics.
“Then there are the aerospace and defense considerations. The US Department of Defense is concerned about the lack of adequate US supplies of rare earths, noting it compromises weapons manufacturing capabilities,” said Bruno.
He explained that China could cripple global industry, especially emerging technologies, if it were to ban exports of rare earth materials. There are very few options in sourcing those essential technology metals from anywhere else, the analyst said. “Of course, China does not necessarily want to do this, because, it plays a long game – and it does not want the West to develop alternatives.”
China's other nuclear option in trade war with US – Rare earth materials
RT : 22 May, 2019
A routine visit by President Xi Jinping to a Chinese rare earths facility earlier this week came amid rising tensions between the two countries and shortly after the US turned up the heat on Chinese tech giant Huawei. Despite the lack of any official announcement from Beijing, the visit has triggered fears that China is ready to use the materials, specifically a ban on their export, as an advantage against the US.
Rare earth materials are indeed one more way China can retaliate, independent political analyst, Alessandro Bruno, told RT.
“It could put heavy restrictions on the rare earth metals that are necessary to make all kinds of electronic equipment, especially phones. This is a significant threat because the West does not have its own supply,” he explained.
The minerals are unsurprisingly not included on the US list of $200 billion worth of Chinese goods facing higher import tariffs. Shortly after Chinese and other media reported that Beijing is considering an embargo, shares of rare earth miners skyrocketed.
On Tuesday, the rare-earth sector jumped by 8.5 percent, according to Global Times. China Rare Earth Holdings Ltd enjoyed the biggest gains in the industry as its shares soared 108 percent.
The strategic importance of rare earth elements, which are mostly metals so the group is often referred to as “rare earth metals,” is hard to overestimate. We use them every day even without knowing it – from your smartphone to a laptop to hybrid or electric vehicles. Rare earths are also used in modern weapons, for example in missile guidance systems and fighter jets.
So it is obvious that American industries would suffer a painful blow should China cut the supplies. The most painful part for the US is that China has a virtual monopoly in the sphere, as it accounts for around 80 percent of the imports, according to the US Geological Survey. This could make Beijing's ban on such materials a nuclear option against Washington.
The US used to be the largest rare-earths-producing country in 1990, but China has stolen the crown long ago. In 2018, Beijing mined 120,000 tons of the materials – a 15,000-ton increase compared to a year earlier, while the US produced just 15,000 tons in total. China holds 44 million tons of the elements if its reserves, while the US just 1.4 million tons.
“To demonstrate their strategic importance, rare earths are among the few Chinese items that Trump (or his officials) has excluded from the list of items subject to extra tariffs/duties,” the expert said, adding that “China understands the strategic importance of rare earths and it establishes export quotas.”
The United States relies on China, the leading global supplier, for about 80 percent of its rare earths.
But what are rare earths, what are they used for, and why do they matter for all of us?
Rare earths or rare metals are a group of 17 chemical elements with special characteristics. The materials are actually not rare, despite their name, but they are difficult to find in the desirable concentrations and they are difficult to process as the ores often contain naturally occurring radioactive materials such as uranium and thorium.
The group consists of yttrium and the 15 lanthanide elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium). Scandium is found in the rarest earth element deposits and is also classified as a rare earth element.
The elements are often referred to as “rare earth oxides” because many of them are typically sold as oxide compounds.
China controls around 85-95 percent of all the rare earths’ production and supply. Last year, the country produced about 78 percent of the global volume of rare earths.
The metals and alloys that contain them are used in many devices that people use every day such as computer memory, DVDs, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, catalytic converters, magnets, fluorescent lighting and so on.
During the past 20 years, there has been an explosion in demand for many items that require rare earth metals. There were very few cell phones in use then but the number has risen to over seven billion in use today. Rare earths’ use in computers has grown almost as fast as the number of cell phones.
Many rechargeable batteries are made with rare earth compounds. Demand for the batteries is being driven by demand for portable electronic devices such as cell phones, readers, portable computers, and cameras.
Rare earths are also used as catalysts, phosphors, and polishing compounds for air pollution control, illuminated screens on electronic devices, and much more. All of those products are expected to experience rising demand. The military uses rare earth elements in night-vision goggles, precision-guided weapons, communications equipment, GPS equipment, batteries, and other defense electronics.
“Then there are the aerospace and defense considerations. The US Department of Defense is concerned about the lack of adequate US supplies of rare earths, noting it compromises weapons manufacturing capabilities,” said Bruno.
He explained that China could cripple global industry, especially emerging technologies, if it were to ban exports of rare earth materials. There are very few options in sourcing those essential technology metals from anywhere else, the analyst said. “Of course, China does not necessarily want to do this, because, it plays a long game – and it does not want the West to develop alternatives.”
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