Letter of the day: blackmail to the rare earths

Last April. However, faced with the blocking of rare land exports by China, which provides more than 90% of the refined world supply, panic has shaken industries and governments.

The industry is in “panic fashion,” said a manager. Nevertheless, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, denounced with virulence the “domination” and the “blackmail” of China. Consequently, In July, she even went to Beijing to request a relaxation of the restrictions.

The “rare lands” are indeed essential elements for the magnets of electric motors. Furthermore, electric cars with smartphones and even fighter planes.

At first glance. the use of rare earths as a weapon works, and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, obtains what he wants. After the resumption of Rare Land deliveries. the American president raised the restrictions on the sale of certain Nvidia chips for artificial intelligence and postponed a sharp increase in import rights.

But although this strategy has given China a short -term letter day: blackmail rare earths advantage, the situation could turn against it.

Indeed, the term “rare earths” is misleading, because these 17 metallic elements are relatively abundant in the earth’s crust. Their “rarity” lies in the difficulty of extracting them and refining them.

If many countries (Australia. United States, India) have deposits, China has dominated the market since the 2000s thanks to decades of deliberate policy, including subsidies and lax environmental regulations. This allowed him to oust Western competitors and monopolize refining and transformation, where real strategic value is.

The use by China of these resources as an economic weapon has made the rest of the world begin to consider rare earths no longer as a simple raw material. but as an asset for national security. This already encourages other countries with rare land deposits to invest letter day: blackmail rare earths massively in their own supply chains.

The Chinese approach also stimulates innovation in materials science, such as ferrite magnets, which no longer need rare earths.

Ultimately, China thus risks losing its export market share and its geopolitical influence linked to its rare land industry.

Angel Vilaseca, Veyrier

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