The Pentagon’s direct investment in rare earth miner MP Materials marks a decisive shift in US industrial and defence policy – one that shatters decades of Republican orthodoxy against ‘picking winners’. Faced with Beijing’s export controls on rare earth elements and magnets – critical to both defence systems and electric vehicles – the Trump administration has stepped in where the private sector and market forces failed. China’s rare earth stranglehold is no abstract threat. In April, Beijing imposed export controls on certain rare earths and magnets in retaliation for US restrictions on chip exports. The result was immediate: overnight, US and European manufacturers, including automakers like Ford, were forced to idle factories.
The Pentagon’s Rare Earth Gamble: Smart Strategy or State-Crafted Monopoly? (Henry Sanderson – RUSI)
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