On April 4, 2025, China crossed an unprecedented course in the trade war between it in the United States. In response to the increase in customs duties decided by the Trump administration, Beijing has suspended the export of seven categories of rare land – Samarium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Lotécium, Scandium and Yttrium – as well as their alloys, oxides and compounds. A measure that sounds like a violent response to recent decisions American.
Why rare earths?
Rare earths are essential for the manufacture of high -tech products: smartphones, computers, batteries, electric vehicle engines, medical equipment, but also defense and armament systems. Permanent magnets based on rare land, for example, are essential for aircraft engines, missiles, drones, and electric cars. The problem is that China has a quasi-monopoly on this market: it ensures 70 to 90 % of world production and 70 % of American imports.
By imposing export restrictions on its rare lands, China is not content to tax American products: it directly threatens the production capacity of the United States. Henceforth, the export of these metals and their derivatives could soon be possible with specific licenses. This uncertainty makes it fear of supply breaks and a prices, potentially fatal in certain sectors. For consumers, this could involve a massive stock rupture, but above all an important outbreak of prices.
American companies, especially in automobile, aeronautics, electronics and defenseare particularly vulnerable. If stocks are exhausted, the production of electric vehicles, computers or weapons could be slowed down, even stopped. The defense sector is on the front line: an F-35 fighter plane, for example, requires nearly 420 kg of rare land to operate. For China, this domination over rare earths is an imposes as a formidable pressure lever in the technological and commercial rivalry which opposes it to the United States. Especially since Beijing does not exclude extending these restrictions to other strategic metals, such as graphite or cobalt.
Faced with this threat, the United States and its allies seek to diversify their sources of supply and relocate part of the production of rare land. This is particularly the case of NVIDIA which announced its project to produce its IA chips and superordinators directly in the United States. The fact remains that this decision will only be fully operational in a few years. In the meantime, China largely dominates the sector, and threatens to undermine the Trumpian industry.
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