A shipment of rare earths from Pakistan had just docked at a U.S. port, and Trump immediately began to celebrate. The words of "resource freedom" on social media were still on the hot searches. As a result, China's Ministry of Commerce released a new rule late at night, directly pressing the pause button on the global rare earth chain. He originally thought that he could finally bypass China's rare earths, but who would have expected that he would be stuck just as soon as he took the first step.
Rare-earth is a cold door, but in the high-tech and military industry is a real goal, the United States uses 417 kilograms of rare-earth metals for each F-35, even a screw is less. after all, the world's 92 percent of rare-earth refining capabilities are in Chinese hands, and the United States is not afraid in the mouth, but the body is honest.
It turns too fast to ask: Can the United States and Pakistan really get out of control of China by using this new route?
US-Pakistan rare earth cooperation: Trump's "breakthrough" was immediately slapped in the face
In fact, in the first instance, it really made Trump throw his eyebrows. Pakistan just signed a rare-earth cooperation memorandum with the United States, promising to provide the United States with stable supplies every year from Port of Guadalcanal, and Trump spoke on social platforms, saying that the United States finally didn’t need to look at who’s face to eat, and the resources were free.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has also sent Pakistan a $500 million investment gift package and a tariff relief.This wave of operations not only gives the U.S. hope of "de-Chinization" of rare lands, but Pakistan also expects to use this to drive GDP growth by 0.6%, both sides are thinking of earning more.
But not until the ship stabilizes, the Ministry of Commerce of China suddenly issued an announcement late at night, announcing the inclusion of the entire rare earth chain in the export control, adding a new technical tracking clause. The meaning is simple: as long as you use Chinese technology, equipment or raw materials, no matter where you refined, where you loaded the ship, must pass China's approval.
The U.S. Geological Bureau of Investigation has long said that the U.S. rare earth resources are few, but the lack of purification processing capacity, especially the heavy rare earth part, is almost entirely dependent on China. this time, the Chinese side is quick, accurate, hard, directly blocked the hole in the germination stage, in the end, China has long seen the direction of this scheme, the layout is done in advance.
China's "long arm jurisdiction": technical tracking terms are Zhang Wang
This time the core of the new regulation from China is that technology tracking clause. Do not underestimate these words, it plays the American "long arm jurisdiction" as a reverse operation.
In the past, the United States always said that as long as they used American-made chips or technology, companies around the world would have to listen to it. Now China has begun to do the same. The rules have changed and the game has become stale.
The new rules clearly state that rare-earth mining, metallurgy, magnetic system preparation, and even medium-weight rare-earth elements involved, as long as they are used in China's technology, equipment or raw materials, must apply for export permits to China.
That’s not to say that 90% of the world’s extracts come from China, even the mining line at the port of Guadalcanal in Pakistan, which also uses the extracts purchased from the packhead and the control system made in Chengdu.
Now, the United States received Pakistani goods, but Chinese technology is hidden in the goods. How to approve and explain this matter? Who do you think has the final say?
To put it in detail, the California mountain mine, although their own land, rare earth to dig out and have to be sent to China processing, because their own refining capabilities are not enough. This game has long been not who resources so simple, but who can control the entire chain.
Some say that this is China in the trade war, in fact more like in the rules war. you use my stuff, you have to come according to my rules, otherwise you don't want to take away. This is not a simple counter, but a precise reaction to reality. Now the whole world has learned that there are not enough resources, you have to have technology, process, industrial chain, otherwise it is to watch the food can not eat.
Global shock: The rare earth chain is broken, who panicks first?
As soon as China's new regulations came out, the market immediately exploded. The price of rare earths on the London Metal Exchange rose by 7% overnight. U.S. military stocks began to pull back. Even automakers in Japan and South Korea became nervous, worried that the cut in supply of rare earths would affect the production lines of motors and batteries.
The White House reacted slowly, immediately contacted Australian and Canadian rare-earth enterprises, wanted to find some alternatives from these "Iron Belt allies" in the hands, the Ministry of Defense also quickly approved a sum of money, prepared to invest in domestic rare-earth projects, and the Vice President also began to speak, saying he hoped that the two sides would maintain communication and avoid the strategic risks brought by "excessive dependence".
Many people associate this rare earth storm with China's restrictions on Japan in 2010. When a Japanese fishing boat was detained in the waters of the Diaoyu Islands, China suspended rare earth exports. Japan immediately became anxious. As a result, the price of rare earths soared and the entire electronics industry was in chaos.
What does this mean? It shows that rare earth is not a resource issue, but a strategic weapon. Once it is launched, it will affect not only one country, but the entire industrial chain.
The United States is also aware of this problem now, but it is not easy said than said to get rid of China's dependence in a short time. Military giants such as Raytheon Technology and Lockheed Martin are inseparable from rare earths in their orders. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is also seeking dialogue with China, which shows that everyone knows that this is not something that anyone can unilaterally sustain.
The game will not end here, but will become more and more complicated.The advantage of the Chinese side is not limited, but pushed out by decades of accumulated technology and industrial chains.This advantage is not to crush money to catch up, and Trump's "resource freedom" is only a short-lived illusion.
Trump had thought he had caught a life-saving grass, and found that the Chinese rope was tied to the grass. This time, the Chinese side not only blocked the rare-earth gaps, but also used a set of rules to reverse the rules. This is not a simple trade dispute, but the encounter of technology and voice power.
China has not taken the initiative to provoke it, but it will not wait to be beaten passively. This rare earth war is a card for China and the United States in the global high-tech supply chain, and it is also a signal: the real power is not who shouts loudly, but who can control the lifeblood of the industry.
Now everyone understands that it doesn't matter where the resources are. What matters is who can turn the resources into products, who can decide whether the products can be circulated or not, and who is the leader of this game. And this dominance, China has no intention of giving up. The event is far from over, it is just beginning.
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Pakistan uses China technology to donate rare earths to the United States? Ministry of Foreign Affairs refutes--Beijing Daily Client 2025-10-13 15:45