The Telegraph reports:

The US is scrambling to get hold of the rare earth metals needed to make weapons after China slashed its supply to American defence firms.

Prices of some rare earths have increased more than 60-fold after Beijing restricted the export of the materials for defence purposes earlier this year, amid a trade war with the US.

Beijing controls around 90 per cent of the world’s rare metal supply and dominates the production of many other critical minerals, giving the country a “stranglehold” on the US defence industrial base, experts said.

A senior defence industry source told The Telegraph the “light is turning from yellow to red” when it comes to American companies’ ability to source the materials, that are needed for everything from fighter jets and drones, to missile-targeting and defensive satellites.

The strain on rare earths has exposed how reliant the US is on Chinese exports for its defence supply chain, giving Beijing leverage at a time of fraught trade discussions between the two rival powers. [Continue reading…]