China has stopped exporting rare earths to everyone, not just the U.S., cutting off critical materials for tech, autos, aerospace, and defense
China has stopped exporting rare earths to everyone, not just the U.S., cutting off critical materials for tech, autos, aerospace, and defense
That‘s their default, though. It’s not the first time they‘re acting up as an unreliable business partner. I mean they bought all those rare earth mines across the globe for a reason and it‘s not to just stick it to the USA. They‘re both bullies.
They got what everyone wants, and they want to make sure everyone remembers that. No doubt prices will raise due to interrupted supply. China will probably benefit when they resume trade with selected countries
Most retailers have announced price hikes across the globe. I had hoped EU would actually get cheaper electronics and whatnot because of dumping. Oh well. Guess this 7 year old pc is going to have to sing it out for a few years longer at this rate.
I'm just glad that as I get older I'm more content with simple things. I'd be ok giving up most tech things and I say that while working in IT myself.
Amen. I also work in IT and I find the longer I do, the more I loathe new tech stacks and developments. I used to be passionate about new tech and its applications. Now I just want to be left alone where possible.
no one hates new tech like IT guys
I'm just trying to see my kid through college and then I'm ready for something simpler. Goatops.com (well a copy/paste from before the site existed) made me chuckle and planted the seed, now I'm in the actual consideration stage of it.
I'm running the same desktop for nearky 14 years and I have two laptops that are over 8. Still daily use.
Makes sense.
Geopoliticts shifts, good idea to just stop, wait and see who's ready to be on friendly terms.
Particularly in Europe, the result is like a few election cycles out. Could go in like 5 different directions and is impossible to predict.
China is encouraging other countries to find new sources which exist on every continent.
They are not nearly as rare as the name implies.
The rarity is the ability to do it without caring about the massive environmental damage often caused while procuring the minerals.
Check my understanding here: It's not that they're scarce, but there's no geological process that concentrates them like copper or gold. There aren't any neodymium seams the way there are gold seams, there's a very little amount everywhere. So you might as well sift the entire Mojave.
Finding the labor to mine and process it cheaply enough to maintain profit margins, while simultaneously deporting everyone, is what makes things rare.
As opposed to what the headline could make you think, it’s not a complete ban on all REE exports. A total ban wouldn’t make much sense.
The REE business is big, and China can’t keep stockpiling these metals for long. Also, REE production is integrated to the rest of the industry, so you can’t just switch those factories off and expect everything else to keep on chugging along as usual.
China can afford to sit on these minerals for years or even decades. EU, US and Russia don't have that luxury.
Well what if you need to keep on producing more common metals in the meantime, and REEs are a byproduct. You would need to keep the REE factories running too.
If you end up with 100 tons of terbium and yttrium oxide sitting in bags out in the rain, it’s going to lead to some serious quality issues further down the line. Well, just shove them in a warehouse then?
You’ll need a big warehouse, and you need to keep building more of them every year as the stockpiles grow. Needless to say, there are some serious logistical problems with a total export ban. A partial restriction is more viable, because it gives China some time to figure out how to adapt.
In any case, the rest of the world needs these metals, and they are willing to bend to knee long before China runs out of mitigation strategies. It’s going to be a problem in China as well, but at least they’re not totally screwed.
If China never wants to export REE again because other countries have built their own refineries sure, they can.
Forcing others to find new suppliers is how you find out they built their own supply chains that exclude you. Business 201
Looks like Australia will profit. We have a lot of lithium, and some of the others, china's been undercutting the price for a while.
Is it just that China doesn’t want them to go to another country and resold to the U.S. in another deal?
To the hoardening!
I guess so, but to what end?
Are they expecting a global inflation given tariffs?
Western industries like to cry foul. But if they did not do anything since these bans started about 20 years ago it means that they are happy with it.
