Allies united against China on rare earths

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limited All rights reserved. The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal 3 min read 17 Oct 2025, 09:18 am. IST A worker waters the site of a rare earth metal mine at Nancheng County, Jiangxi Province. (File photo: Reuters) Summary Bessent has the right idea, but why hit friends with tariffs? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday he plans to coordinate with allies to counter China’s weaponization of rare-earth minerals. It’s the right move, though he might find it easier to rally the world if President Trump doesn’t also hit our allies with unprovoked unilateral tariffs. Mr. Earlier this week, Bessent accused Beijing of pointing “a bazooka at the supply chains and the industrial base of the entire free world” by threatening global export controls on products containing even minuscule amounts of Chinese rare earths. He is right. China has a stranglehold on these minerals, and this is a serious problem. Rare earths are needed for all kinds of electronics, auto parts, AI chips and chip manufacturing equipment, medical devices, drones, Tomahawk missiles and much more. China accounts for about 70% of rare-earth mining and more than 90% of refining. Beijing now plans to let foreign companies get its permission to export these and most high-tech goods. The Chinese Communist Party’s primary goal is to bully the US into easing its export controls on AI computer chips, chip manufacturing equipment and other technologies. The Chinese are also seeking to force other countries to stop cooperating with US export controls. “We are going to have a full-fledged, group response to this because bureaucrats in China cannot manage the supply chain or the manufacturing process for the rest of the world,” Mr. Bessent said Wednesday. He added: “We are going to talk to our European allies, to Australia, to Canada, to India and the Asian democracies.” A united front would give the US more economic power to counter China’s coercion. Japan’s Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato this week called on G-7 countries to “unite and respond” to China’s economic aggression, as they have to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The troubling reality is that the US on its own may not be able to defeat China in a military and technological arms race. The US will need backup from allies who have other cards they can play against China. The Trump administration has sought the expertise and assistance of South Korean shipbuilders. It could also cultivate trade partnerships to develop alternative sources of rare earths, which could include India, Malaysia and Australia. The Department of Defense announced an agreement this summer to help MP Materials build out a domestic rare-earth supply chain. But it will be difficult for the US to scale up rare-earth production in the short term, and perhaps even in the medium term, not least because of destructive obstacles allowed by the US. A technological breakthrough on the scale of hydraulic shale fracturing may be necessary if the US is to produce significant quantities of rare earth metals, and the Energy Department is funding research into new, more efficient production processes. But building alliances is as important to countering China’s economic aggression as it is to curbing Beijing’s imperial ambitions. American allies are also victims of China’s mercantilism, and they don’t like how it threatens the neighborhood and supports Russia’s gnawing war in Ukraine. The problem is that Mr. Trump has strained American friendships by aiming his own tariff bazooka at their supply chains and industrial bases. “If China wants to be an unreliable partner to the world, then the world will have to disengage” from China, Mr. Bessant warned. That may be, but the Administration’s call for a united front against Beijing will be stronger if the US acts as a reliable trading partner. Get all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. more topics #china Read next story