The Chinese Xi administration may choose to leverage its state dominance of rare-earth elements to better balance the current Sino-U.S. trade war.

Dan Rochefort

2019-06-13 10:26:00 Thu ET

The Chinese Xi administration may choose to leverage its state dominance of rare-earth elements to better balance the current Sino-U.S. trade war. In recent times, President Xi visits a Jiangxi hardware factory that spins rare earth elements into permanent magnets in iPhones, electric cars, wind turbines, and military missiles. China monopolizes 80% of the strenuous extraction of 17 vital rare-earth elements for ubiquitous applications from consumer electronic technology to military defense. Although the raw ores are as common as copper and lead, rare-earth ores oxidize quickly and their extraction can cause severe pollution. With its low labor costs and lax environmental regulations, China has become the dominant force in the rare-earth market since the 1980s. With almost half of global rare-earth deposits, China produces 120,000 metric tons of rare-earth per annum, or about 80% of the global supply. Australia is the second largest supplier of only 20,000 metric tons of rare-earth per year.

The Chinese Xi administration has a strategic incentive to reduce the quota of rare-earth elements for better environmental protection. The next quota reset is due in June 2019, and this reset can indicate whether China intends to leverage its rare-earth quasi-monopoly to counteract the Trump tariff tactic.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

U.S. trade envoy Robert Lighthizer proposes America to require regular touchpoints to ensure Sino-U.S. trade deal enforcement.

Daisy Harvey

2019-03-17 14:35:00 Sunday ET

U.S. trade envoy Robert Lighthizer proposes America to require regular touchpoints to ensure Sino-U.S. trade deal enforcement.

U.S. trade rep Robert Lighthizer proposes America to require regular touchpoints to ensure Sino-U.S. trade deal enforcement. America has to maintain the thr

+See More

Stock Synopsis: High-speed 5G broadband and mobile cloud telecommunication

Charlene Vos

2024-04-02 04:45:41 Tuesday ET

Stock Synopsis: High-speed 5G broadband and mobile cloud telecommunication

Stock Synopsis: High-speed 5G broadband and mobile cloud telecommunication In the U.S. telecom industry for high-speed Internet connections and mobile cl

+See More

Fundamental value investors find it more difficult to ferret out individual stocks.

James Campbell

2017-06-03 05:35:00 Saturday ET

Fundamental value investors find it more difficult to ferret out individual stocks.

Fundamental value investors, who intend to manage their stock portfolios like Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, now find it more difficult to ferret out indiv

+See More

Joseph Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton suggest that free trade helps promote better economic development worldwide.

Monica McNeil

2023-07-21 10:30:00 Friday ET

Joseph Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton suggest that free trade helps promote better economic development worldwide.

Joseph Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton suggest that free trade helps promote better economic development worldwide. Joseph Stiglitz and Andrew Charlton (200

+See More

Personal finance and investment author Thomas Corley studies and shares the rich habits of self-made millionaires.

Charlene Vos

2018-03-23 08:26:00 Friday ET

Personal finance and investment author Thomas Corley studies and shares the rich habits of self-made millionaires.

Personal finance and investment author Thomas Corley studies and shares the rich habits of self-made millionaires. Corley has spent 5 years studying the dai

+See More

Thomas Piketty frames economic inequality as a global phenomenon.

Apple Boston

2017-01-11 11:38:00 Wednesday ET

Thomas Piketty frames economic inequality as a global phenomenon.

Thomas Piketty's recent new book *Capital in the Twenty-First Century* frames income and wealth inequality now as a global economic phenomenon. When

+See More