“The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths.” According to media reports in China, this was what Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China’s reform and opening up, once said in 1992. Deng might not have foreseen how well his words would age. 33 years on, rare earths have now become the trump card in the geopolitical standoff between China and the US.
onsdag 18. juni 2025
[Big read] Can China use rare earths to checkmate the US?
As the tariff war rages on between China and the US, the rare earths versus chips battle is happening simultaneously. It is a battle that shows how technology and natural resources have become key bargaining chips in the rivalry between superpowers, and has once again put the spotlight on a previously little-known industrial feedstock — rare earths.
