How to Ease China’s Hold on Rare Earths
The Biden administration should partner with allies and invest in research to ensure the supply of critical minerals.
The U.S. has only one operating rare-earths mine.
Photographer: Joe Buglewicz/BloombergRecent reports that China might ban exports of rare-earth refining technologies set off another round of worries about its near-stranglehold over the minerals critical to modern technology. It’s a threat that President Joe Biden’s administration needs to take seriously.
China’s leverage over the U.S. is real. Rare earths — a family of 17 elements with similar chemical properties — are integral to all manner of 21st-century products, from iPhones to electric vehicles to wind turbines. They’re especially crucial to advanced weapons systems: A single F-35 fighter jet requires more than 900 pounds of the stuff; a Virginia-class submarine, 10 times as much.