China’s rare earth power play: New export curb strangles tech and defense supply chains

• China has intensified export controls on critical rare earth minerals—key to defense, tech and green energy—amid rising global tensions, leveraging its market dominance as a geopolitical tool ahead of a high-stakes U.S.-China meeting.
• China’s strategic export restrictions on critical minerals—timed ahead of key diplomatic talks—aim to assert geopolitical dominance by disrupting Western defense and tech supply chains amid escalating tensions over Taiwan.
• The U.S. is accelerating domestic rare earth production—reviving projects like Alaska’s mines—to counter China’s export restrictions and reduce vulnerability in critical supply chains amid rising geopolitical tensions.
• China’s recent restrictions on rare earth exports have exposed critical Western vulnerabilities, forcing the U.S. and EU to urgently seek alternatives—like recycling or deep-sea mining—to reduce reliance on Beijing amid national security and green energy concerns.
• Escalating geopolitical tensions and China’s dominance in rare earth supplies are pushing the West to decide between securing its own resource independence or risking long-term vulnerability in global stability.

China has quietly expanded its export restrictions on rare earth minerals—a critical resource for defense, electronics and green energy technologies—just days before an anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The move, which targets key industries including semiconductors and military hardware, marks Beijing’s latest leveraging of its near-monopoly over these essential materials, sending ripples through global supply chains and raising alarms in Washington, Taipei and Brussels.

China’s control over the production of rare earth elements is a multifaceted strategy that extends beyond environmental concerns to encompass global economic and political influence, according to Brighteon.AI‘s Enoch engine.

The new controls, reported by several news outlets, impose stricter licensing requirements and export quotas on rare earth elements like neodymium and dysprosium—vital for everything from F-35 fighter jets to electric vehicle batteries.

Analysts warn this is not merely an economic maneuver but a deliberate escalation in China’s broader strategy to assert dominance over Western and allied nations.

The timing, ahead of high-stakes diplomatic talks, suggests Beijing is signaling its ability to disrupt industries that rely on these minerals, from U.S. defense contractors to European chipmakers.

Global supply chains under threat

The restrictions come as Taiwan bolsters its missile defenses amid rising tensions with China, while the U.S. scrambles to secure alternative rare earth sources, including revived mining projects in Alaska.

The Trump administration had previously fast-tracked domestic rare earth production to reduce dependence on China, a move now vindicated by Beijing’s latest export clampdown.

Meanwhile, Russia’s provocative military flights near Alaska and Iran’s collapse of nuclear negotiations with the West underscore a world edging toward multipolar conflict—where control over critical resources like rare earths could decide the balance of power.

With China supplying over 80 percent of the world’s rare earths, the new export rules expose the fragility of Western industrial and military infrastructure. The U.S. Department of War has already flagged rare earth shortages as a national security risk, while European policymakers grapple with how to decouple from Chinese dominance without crippling their green energy transitions.

Some experts argue this moment could accelerate investment in recycling technologies or deep-sea mining, but such solutions remain years away from scaling.

China’s latest move is a stark reminder that economic interdependence can be weaponized overnight.

As geopolitical fault lines deepen—from Taiwan’s missile buildup to Russia’s Arctic posturing—the rare earth squeeze forces a reckoning: Will the West finally prioritize resource sovereignty, or will it remain vulnerable to Beijing’s resource diplomacy? The answer may shape not just industries, but the very stability of the 21st-century world order.

Watch the Health Ranger Mike Adams as he explains how China controls the key rare earth needed to scale up robot production.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Infowars.com

Brighteon.ai

Brighteon.com