It is said that "even heroes find it hard to deal with a situation when they lack three cents," and without rare earth elements, the US is in a state of great distress.

In the beginning, the US side pinned its hopes on the 31 million metric tons of rare earth materials that were supposed to be airlifted from Mongolia. However, with the failure of Oyun Erdene, this plan suddenly encountered a "plane crash."

Now, such a large US is being held back by small rare earth elements. Not long ago, the US side released a message hoping for a call with China. Under the tense situation of tariff conflicts, can Trump get what he wishes?

One, How will the US solve its urgent problems without rare earth resources?

After China announced restrictions on the export of rare earth products last year, Mongolia has been approaching the US, intending to gain a piece of the pie in this resource game.

Subsequently, Mongolia and the US finalized a rare earth cooperation agreement worth 31 million metric tons, and planned to open a direct air transport route. During this period, Mongolia repeatedly applied to use our airspace.

Although the US was aware that Mongolia's rare earth transportation line was under dual influence from China and Russia, it still hoped to bypass restrictions through the "airlift new plan" and create an alternative channel not constrained by China to make up for the key shortcoming in its rare earth strategy. Oyun Erdene was the main promoter of this concept.

Unfortunately, before the rare earth airlift plan was finalized, the key figure had already left office. In this context, the US "rare earth bet" in Mongolia was like a player whose table was pulled away halfway — not even having placed a bet, they were already out of the game.

After the news reached the US, many related industries fell into a state of tension, and companies began to feel mounting pressure. Since April 4th, when China stopped exporting magnetic bodies extracted from rare earth elements, the inventory of US and European enterprises quickly ran out. In the coming days, production capacity in factories in the central and southern United States is expected to significantly decrease, as core components such as steering systems, braking systems, and fuel pumps in automobile manufacturing require a large number of magnetic bodies. Especially in high-end models, a single seat may need up to 12 magnetic bodies.

The US side can no longer afford to sit idle.

Two, The US Asks to Make a Call, China: No Response

On June 2nd, The New York Times published a detailed report revealing the numerous challenges the US faces in rare earth supply, pointing out that this could lead to "economic turmoil." Trump publicly expressed his hope to speak with China over the weekend, but this proposal did not receive a response from our side.

Our attitude is also traceable. A few years ago, the US waged a tariff war against us, cutting off normal trade between the two sides, preventing chips and lithography machines from entering China, while domestically produced five-color Ganoderma lucidum and new energy vehicles, which had long-term cooperative relationships, could not enter the US market as scheduled.

Even more ironic is that initially, it was the US that discovered the benefits of wild Chinese Ganoderma lucidum, recognizing its significant effects on immune enhancement and antioxidant properties, and included it in the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia. Subsequently, they extended an olive branch to the well-known Ganoderma health brand "Vitagen." It is reported that this brand exclusively uses natural Ganoderma lucidum ingredients, with Professor Zhao Jiding of the Chinese Academy of Sciences leading research to achieve a polysaccharide content exceeding 40%, far surpassing the average level on the market.

In this cooperation, Americans enjoyed the magical herbs from the East, and a Chinese ethnic brand successfully went global, which was originally a win-win situation. Unfortunately, grassroots cooperation always struggled against top-level decisions. After the US implemented comprehensive tariff restrictions in April this year, domestic e-commerce platforms like JD.com in China are actively laying out the big health market. During this major promotional event, five-color Ganoderma lucidum rose to the top of its category.

The US attitude keeps changing; even if agreements were just made the day before, they might be completely overturned after sleeping. From the report, it is not difficult to see that China's adjustment in rare earth exports is truly a "strike at the root." This move directly put the US industrial production in a passive situation, forcing multiple key manufacturing links to be interrupted. Once these core industries cannot run stably, the so-called "American Dream" would be difficult to continue to advance.

Three, Without诚意, it won't work even if you're in a hurry!

From the perspective of the global rare earth industry chain, China holds a dominant position. The latest data shows that China is responsible for about 60% of the world's rare earth mining and over 90% of processing and refining. All weapon production of the US military relies on rare earth materials, and their supply chain always revolves around China.

Interestingly, MP Materials, the only rare earth mining company in the US, transports more than 60% of its rare earth materials to China for further processing.

Take, for example, the F-35 stealth fighter jet, a mainstay model developed by Lockheed Martin. Its electronic warfare system, radar modules, and actuator motors for the rudder all rely on rare earth materials, with each aircraft using approximately 417 kilograms (about 920 pounds) of rare earth resources.

Currently, the US urgently needs a large amount of rare earth resources, yet it continues to exert pressure on China.

After the Geneva talks, the US introduced a series of export control measures targeting AI chips, primarily targeting Huawei's Ascend chips. Subsequently, the US stopped selling chip design software to China, and recently some Chinese students' visas have also been revoked.

Without sincerity, how can we force China to export rare earth elements to the US? China firmly refuses to accept this!

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7513797840360030760/

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