China tightened the export of rare earths, and Trump was so angry that he wanted to impose a 100% tariff. On the seventh day after the export of rare earths was tightened, American helpers gathered the G7 and the European Union, and all of them went into battle. However, the United States began to secretly learn from China: government holdings, industrial assistance, and the end of the national team.
The United States, which once cried out “free market” every day, is now ready to scratch the disguised cloth with its own hands and roll out the “visible hand” simulation. This “rare-earth reversal” is more wonderful than imagined.
American helpers are here
A few days ago, China announced new rare earth export controls, and the United States immediately blew up the pot. Trump slapped the table at the White House: "We want to impose 100% tariffs on China!"
But this time, more than the United States, the European Union, Japan... all jumped out and shouted collectively, “It’s not fair!”
In just seven days, from "panic" to "group", the Western world staged a rare earth version of the "Avengers". The name rare earth sounds "rare", but it is actually more "hard". Missiles, chips, electric vehicles, motors, 5G base stations... are all in ruins without rare earths.
China controls more than 90% of the world's rare earth refining capabilities, while in the United States, even a large-scale rare earth smelter relies on China to supply technology.
So when China announced new regulations to implement export licensing management for key rare earths such as lanthanum, cerium, and neodymium, the entire G7 exploded.
They shouted "free market" in their mouths, but their bodies were extremely honest. They immediately held a meeting.
EU Trade Commissioner Shefcovic was the first to jump out, saying that this "seriously hurt European enterprises", and some even complained that it had "stopped production".
He also took the initiative to make an appointment with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and proposed convening an emergency G7 video conference.
Note that it means "urgent".
The seven countries need to collectively discuss how to deal with China’s rare-earth control.
This is not a diplomatic speech, but real anxiety.
Because they finally realized: whoever controls rare earth, whoever holds the backbone of the industrial chain.
Trump is ruthless in his mouth and even more ruthless in his hands.
As soon as he shouted “100% tariffs,” his Treasury Secretary, Bessent, immediately revealed the bottom line: to get the U.S. government “directly in stock” key companies.
Rare-earth mining, semiconductor, and defense industries are all classified as "strategic industries".
The Treasury Department would even join forces with JPMorgan to establish a “national strategic mineral reserve.”
That means the U.S. is resuming its 40 years untouched word, industrial policy.
The U.S. government is now the major shareholder of rare earth company MP Materials, and is still considering taking shares in Intel and Lithium Americas, and even wants to "take a commission" from Nvidia and AMD's chip sales in China.
To sum up in one sentence: The U.S. government has begun to play Chinese-style "industrial policy".
Europe and the United States "strategic autonomy" becomes empty talk
Remember how the U.S. taught China at the time? they said: “The market should rely on the ‘invisible hand’, the government should not interfere.”
Basent said, “When facing an economy like China, we must apply industrial policy.”
Listen, is this not like changing the shell of the “Chinese scheme”?
Ironically, the U.S. Department of Defense just struck $400 million in July, joining MP Materials, and also set a 10-year price bottom for the enterprise's magnetic materials.
Free market? No longer exists.
When the rare earth is tied to the neck, even the “belief” can be put aside.
The European Union is more concerned than the United States.
They speak loudly of “strategic autonomy”, but once the tension is rare, the first reaction is “seek the United States to consult.”
Shevcovic's talk of "accelerating joint projects on key minerals" sounds like Europe is about to stand up.
But in fact, this is equivalent to handing over the life arch to Washington.
Because the rare earth industry can not be established by a single word "united".
From exploration, refining to the manufacture of magnets, each link requires time, money, environmental protection licenses, the US own Neoko company CEO said the most straightforwardly: "Open a mine in the United States, it takes 29 years."
In less than 10 years, China completed the entire industrial chain from minerals to magnets.
So this so-called “Joint Self-Rescue” is essentially based on the United States.
The EU shouted independence on its mouths, and its body had long been kneeling at the feet of the dollar.
If Biden is still pretending to insist on “value diplomacy,” then Trump is not pretending at all.
He comes from a media background and knows a saying,"What you say in front of the camera can be changed behind the camera."
Faced with China's new rules on rare earths, he no longer talks about "freedom" but about "control."
No longer talk about "markets", but talk about "national interests".
His logic is simple: China can shape industry with policy, why not the United States?
In fact, this is a dangerous and real signal that the United States is trying to “rule China in the way of China.”
They are re-learning the meaning of “national strategy.”
It's just this tuition fee, it's too expensive.
Because the United States lacks not only rare earth, but also time, technology and execution.
This game has just begun
China’s rare-earth policies are not just economic operations.
It is a redefinition of "sovereignty and market".
Over the past few decades, the rules of the game set by the West have been: markets prevail, government withdrawal, and free flow of capital.
But today, it is faced with reality.
Energy security, food independence, and science and technology guardrails.
The four words "de-risk" are actually a translation of "de-dependence on China."
But the result is more and more.
China's global share of rare earth is still more than eighty percent, and key materials such as uranium, uranium, graphite are almost monopoly.
When every screw, every battery in the manufacturing industry, can not be separated from China's supply, the West only discovered that "globalization" is actually Chinese.
China's new rare earth regulations are not a simple "export control", but a statement of economic sovereignty.
It tells the world that China is no longer just a global factory, but a “valve” for global industries.
The response of the United States was a historical reversal.
The country that is most anti-government intervention is now using the most "socialist" way to regain what it calls the "free market."
They once satirized China's "government is too strong", but now they find that at the critical moment, without a strong government, they can't cope with it at all.
It is not China that is imitating the United States, but the United States is supplying China.
A word ends today’s topic: When Trump also began to imitate China’s industrial policy, the myth of “free market” was broken.
The new rules of the world economy may be being rewritten by that land of rare earths.