On September 30, the White House issued its second critical mineral executive order since 2017. The Executive Order on Addressing the Threat to the Domestic Supply Chain from Reliance on Critical Minerals from Foreign Adversaries aims to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of select critical minerals, including rare earth elements – for which 80 percent of U.S. imports come from China.
The U.S. government clearly acknowledges the threat posed by China’s near-monopoly of global rare earth production. But the U.S. response to date has ignored the nature of China’s rare earths apparatus – its scope, strategic context, global reach, and how Beijing has claimed its current position. As a result, U.S. investment risks sustaining – rather than offsetting – a Beijing-controlled industrial chain.
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