P erhaps last week's U.S.-China summit was a "success" in the narrow sense that the Americans were not humiliated. Well, maybe not. Officials, analysts, reporters, and observers have been providing widespread commentary on how subservient and obsequious the U.S. President was to the Chinese dictator Xi. Ugh! The critically important subject of rare earth minerals (17 crucial metals) hovered over the summit. These raw materials are central components in a vast array of products from electronics, EVs, and other renewable technologies to traditional automobiles and medical diagnostics. They are also indispensable to a large number of military systems including jet engines, guided missiles, radar, and sonar. In short, modern life is not possible without them. The U.S. suffers a massive strategic vulnerability here, however, since China accounts for two-thirds of the world's rare-earth mining, 85 percent of its refining, and 90 percent of its production. While the U.S. has...
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