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Reading up on the history of how the US killed off its domestic rare earth/magnet industry and it's even worse than I thought counterpunch.org/2006/04/07/the

4:34 AM · Apr 16, 2025

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skepticalifornia

@skepticaliblog

Jun 3

“This is America’s, and the world’s, Achilles’ heel, which China continuously exploits” China now produces 90% of the world’s high-performance rare earth magnets; the United States produces practically none

Workers in China at the Magnequench Company making magnetic powders and other products using rare earth metals in 2013. The company closed a plant in Indiana two decades ago.

U.S. Dependence on China for Rare Earth Magnets Is Causing Shortages

“China could bring America’s automotive assembly plants to a standstill” China now has a stranglehold that 1970s-era OPEC could only dream of—and the West walked right into the trap

“Clean energy” and “green” were always intentional misnomers used by Potemkin environmentalists as a pretext to offshore all domestic energy production You will be unsurprised to learn that California killed off US rare earth production ... via the EPA

“China in April began requiring companies to apply for permission to export magnets made with rare-earth metals ... The country controls roughly 90% of the world’s supply” Car companies risk factory shutdowns over rare-earth magnet shortage

$Automakers Race to Find Workaround to China’s Stranglehold on Rare-Earth Magnets$

Automakers Race to Find Workaround to China’s Stranglehold on Rare-Earth Magnets

And the trap (which America walked straight into) is sprung WSJ is leaning heavily into the “Trump trade war” angle, but China shut down factory production in Japan years ago in a dispute over the Senkaku Islands in exactly the same manner Strategic idiocy (or worse)

"German and U.S. automakers have complained that the restrictions imposed by China threaten production, following a similar grievance from an Indian EV maker last week." Some European auto parts plants suspend output over China rare earth curbs

China's rare earth export curbs hit the auto industry worldwide

We crippled domestic mining via regulatory classification back in 1980 The US National Defense Stockpile sold the entire strategic reserve of rare earths in 1998 (?!) The Pentagon had to waive laws banning Chinese-built components on US weapons just to get magnets for the JSF

“They have now created an entire export control regime for rare earths. They can turn that spigot on and off at will.” China today has an essential monopoly over “heavy rare earths” which are vital for magnets used in industries such as defense and EVs apnews.com/article/trade-

I remember reading this--and talking about to people at Stanford. But most economists are so enthralled by "gains from trade" that these issues were never treated seriously, and you'd be ridiculed for it. Some neocons cared, but there's a split in the establishment

You would think US would subsidize and mandate continued operation of at least the last domestic instance of any strategic tech. There's no guarantee that China would ever permit the reverse knowledge and equipment transfer.

this feels very relevant to stuff you were posting about a while back wrt Nixon/Kissinger detente, the one China policy, and US and Chinese ruling classes working together