If China Cuts Rare Earths the US Can’t Keep Making F-35s
Sounds like an excellent argument to keep the rare earths flowing
China is threatening the US with the possibility that it may withhold rare-earth elements critical to the production of a number of different US products, including missiles and stealth fighters.
The US has been turning up the heat on China in the ongoing trade war. Now Chinese media is warning that China can up the stakes.
“United States, don’t underestimate China’s ability to strike back,” the People’s Daily, the paper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, wrote Wednesday, according to Reuters.
“Will rare earths become a counter weapon for China to hit back against the pressure the United States has put on for no reason at all? The answer is no mystery,” the newspaper said in a commentary, ominously adding, “Don’t say we didn’t warn you!”
Other Chinese media outlets released similar articles.
Rare-earth elements, of which China produces the overwhelming majority, play an important role in the production of defense systems. For example, a US Navy Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine requires 9,200 pounds of rare-earth metals, while an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer needs 5,200 pounds.
US defense contractors such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin use rare-earth metals to make high-end guidance systems and sensors for missiles and other military platforms, Reuters reported.
An F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth-generation stealth jet built to give the US an edge over rivals like China, requires 920 pounds of rare-earth materials, according to Asia Times, which reported that the US has an almost nonexistent ability to produce rare-earth materials.
“The US side wants to use the products made by China’s exported rare earths to counter and suppress China’s development,” the People’s Daily said on Wednesday. “The Chinese people will never accept this!”
The paper’s rhetoric suggests that China would intentionally take aim at the US defense sector, which Beijing believes is working to contain China’s rise.
The US relies on China for as much as 80% of its rare-earth materials, according to Bloomberg. “Rare earths are a niche specialty and critical to the Defense Department,” Simon Moores, the managing director at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, told the outlet.
“Rare earths are essential to the production, sustainment, and operation of US military equipment,” a 2016 Government Accountability Office report said. “Reliable access to the necessary material, regardless of the overall level of defense demand, is a bedrock requirement for DOD.”
If China were to pull the plug, it could certainly lead to complications, although there is the possibility that the department could turn to alternative sources, given that its requirement is only 1% of the total US demand for rare-earth elements.
Beijing has not yet said that it will take this step, but it is certainly troubling that Chinese media is threatening this move as a response to US actions in the trade war.
Source: Business Insider
Tell China to hurry up.
Save the American worker from more theft of the fruits of their labor, by the USA, to build the big boondoggle of the impotent F-35.
Me too, since Americans who believe they are always shortchanged by China artificially underpriced supply will find out the hard way on just how environmentally damaging mining and processing rare earths can be.
i wonder what their motive for delay is seeing Trump dished out hate speech on Huawei and economic war which is no light matter. The American loser trait. Puncture the tyres of bike riders ahead of you in the race.
That’s the point!! I’m thinking that with China owning hundreds of companies in the US and thousands of acres of agriculture land, they don’t want that status to be changed…they like what they have in US!
But is it worth sending rare earth to the US to make stealth fighters and aircraft carriers and ships?! I’m not so sure…
Ahaha, nice.
“Sounds like an excellent argument to keep the rare earths flowing”
Good line.
Fair enough but it’s a cash cow for the U.S. defense industry. Japan is going to buy 100 of them.
Please, China, do withold the rare earth from the US!! They will only use it against you in their weapons in the future….just use your sense of preservation – and if not that, competition! Don’t give them what they need!
And dump their debt!
“Sounds like an excellent argument to keep the rare earths flowing”
LOL.
Exactly.
America’s F-35 is the US military equivalent of the Boeing 737 MAX.
A piece of overrated American trash.