US Rare Earths: From 'Critical' Mineral to Chinese 'Weapon'
The mainstream media narrative, as highlighted by the Financial Times , fixates on China's current dominance over rare earth minerals, casting it as a geopolitical cudgel. What these same outlets consistently forget to mention is that the U.S. once led global rare earth production, notably with Mountain Pass mine in California in the 1980s. Environmental regulations and the pursuit of cheaper
overseas labor prompted U.S. companies to offload extraction and processing, effectively handing China a strategic monopoly on materials now deemed 'critical' for everything from iPhones to F-35s. (Whoopsie.) It's fascinating how a 'market efficiency' today becomes a 'national security threat' tomorrow, isn't it? One might wonder if the same financial institutions celebrating globalization two
decades ago are now scrambling for new subsidies to 're-shore' the very industries they helped export.