Donald Trump has been fighting a trade war with China…
China is trying fight back
It has been working quietly to challenge American’s economic supremacy ….
Donald Trump’s trade war may actually help them…..
And hurt America’s economy….
China dominates the global market for these materials and has been threatening to take them hostage in the deepening trade conflict. Just the suggestion that Beijing could starve American factories of essential materials has sent rare-earth prices soaring over the past month, with dysprosium oxide, used in lasers and nuclear-reactor control rods, up by one-third.
But the alarm overlooks the rise over the past decade of alternative sources of rare earths — including Mountain Pass — and ignores the difficulties China would face in implementing a ban, including the prospect of widespread smuggling and the likelihood of hurting countries that Chinese authorities may prefer not to alienate.
“We have an absolutely world-class resource,” said Michael Rosenthal, chief executive of MP Materials, which operates the California mine. “That’s our competitive advantage.”
President Trump, fresh from an immigration dispute with Mexico, pivoted Monday to his stalled China trade talks. In a CNBC interview, the president — expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month in Japan — said their “differences can be worked out very easily.”
President Trump on May 14 called the escalating trade fight between the United States and China “a little squabble.”
But Xi shows no sign of caving and may use rare earths as a bargaining chip. In the latest sign that China might reprise its 2010 cutoff of exports to Japan, the powerful National Development and Reform Commission said on June 4 that it would set new limits on sales outside China…..