On April 3, the Chinese edition of The New York Times wrote: "To avoid triggering investor panic or angering the Chinese government, American manufacturers have largely kept a low profile regarding the impact of China's rare earth restrictions. However, multiple industries are deeply concerned about the tightening controls on rare earth exports and supply. The CEO of U.S. medical device manufacturer Medtronic stated that China's rare earth regulations have already affected the production of MRI machines and CT scanners."
[Clever] Comment briefly: This time, American manufacturing is truly experiencing 'suffering in silence'—they dare not voice their pain aloud, fearing a stock market crash and provoking China; behind closed doors, they're sweating profusely, with production lines nearly frozen into PowerPoint slides. Media reports reveal that even Medtronic's CEO has admitted: rare earth controls are directly choking production, making it impossible to manufacture MRIs and CT scanners. Back in 2010, when China tightened restrictions, rare earth prices surged fivefold—America should have woken up then. Instead, they chose short-term profits, shutting down domestic rare earth mines in the 1990s, deeming refining too dirty and expensive, and simply relying on China’s 'vegetable-market prices' for rare earths.
After decades, they've developed a severe case of dependency: globally, 92% of refined rare earths and 99% of heavy rare earths now depend on China. They have mines but can't refine them, suffer from technological gaps and a shortage of skilled workers. Now, F-35 production halts due to lack of rare earths, new energy vehicles face delays, and even medical devices struggle to be produced. They pretend calmness on the surface while frantically panicking behind the scenes. This is a classic example of strategic myopia: treating strategic resources as disposable goods and ignoring supply chain security. Digging their own hole, they’ll have to fill it while kneeling—purely self-inflicted!
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861459753094211/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.