China could shut down our military in a minute if we don't fix the looming rare earths supply crisis
Opinion by Fox News • Yesterday 8:00 AM
In 2010, China precipated a low-intensity conflict with Japan and the West by stopping the export of rare earth elements. Alarm bells rang across the White House, the Pentagon, and corporate America. When China relented after about a week, U.S. military planners knew our country had dodged a bullet. They started asking: how likely is another rare earth squeeze play by China?
Lawmakers introduce legislation to get crucial rare earth minerals
As the then-CEO of the only producing rare earth mine in the U.S. in 2010, I rate the odds of another rare earth crisis in the next five years as 9.5 out of 10. As was the case then, neither the U.S. nor our allies are adequately prepared for the economic and military catastrophe that will result. The rare earth projects that were on the drawing board in the U.S. at that time still have not advanced past the permitting and study stages, which means they are still years away from production.
Many modern technologies, and most major weapons systems, require rare earths to function. Without them, we quickly lose the ability to manufacture electric vehicles, advanced wind turbines, energy-saving appliances, Abrams tanks, F-35s, smartphones – the list goes on and on.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-could-shut-down-our-military-in-a-minute-if-we-don-t-fix-the-looming-rare-earths-supply-crisis/ar-AA16Lmiv?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=3391e22fe6c34c3eb7b785cb5f9820dd
