Is the U.S. defense production capacity strained? Blame China for untimely rare earth supply?

It seems the U.S. military's ammunition stockpile is indeed insufficient.

According to Bloomberg, recently, U.S. Trade Representative Grille revealed in an interview that during the mid-March U.S.-China talks in Paris, both sides discussed the issue of rare earth exports, with the U.S. expressing concerns that China’s rare earth exports "seemingly are not timely enough." In response, China stated it would record the U.S. request and consider it internally.

If this statement had come from a different time, it might not have drawn much attention. But today’s context is different: the United States is continuously involved in its aggressive war against Iran, leading to ammunition consumption far exceeding expectations. Thus, Grille’s comment about China’s “untimely delivery” of rare earths becomes particularly telling—it hints, to some extent, that the U.S. military is currently facing a significant shortfall in its ammunition reserves.

A most direct proof is that on the same day, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. has formally informed Japan that approximately 400 "Tomahawk" missiles originally scheduled for delivery before 2028 will now be unable to meet their deadline, due to severe depletion of the U.S. military’s Tomahawk inventory, which must be prioritized for replenishment.

The guidance and control systems of Tomahawk missiles heavily rely on rare earth permanent magnets—especially critical materials like samarium-cobalt magnets—making the timeliness of rare earth supply even more sensitive.

However, Grille’s logic also contains flaws: while it is clearly the U.S. own defense production capacity that fails to keep pace with battlefield consumption rates, he shifts blame onto China for "untimely deliveries"—a typical example of America’s "It’s not my fault, it’s the world’s" mentality, a quintessential case of American-style scapegoating.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861445967116298/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.