Scaling China’s Rare Earths Wall
We’re at war! The West vs China. Call it a cold war, a trade war or a technology war. The label doesn’t matter. The world’s two largest economies are beating their chests. It’s a fight to see who’ll be top gorilla in the next decade. Neither side will go down without a fight. It might not escalate to missiles and bombs. The temperature could drop. But no boardroom in Washington, Berlin or Tokyo is betting the next decade on Beijing staying friendly. The lesson of the past three years has sunk in. You need your critical supply chains sitting outside China, or at minimum the ability to switch fast when the gate slams shut. Supply chain sovereignty is a must-have. We’ve watched the paranoia and resentment build over the last decade. It hit a tangible fever pitch as the Covid pandemic played out. Export licences on gallium and germanium. Restrictions on the heavy rare earths that go into magnets. Stockpiling programs from the Pentagon to the European Commission. Rare Earth Elements (REE) sit right at the centre of it. They’re the one chokepoint where China holds almost the entire chain.







