China's Export Curbs on Critical Minerals Pose Risk for US Military Programmes

On Air Force fighter jets, magnets made of rare earth minerals that are mined or processed in China are needed to start the engines and provide emergency power.

- Helene Cooper

WASHINGTON - On Air Force fighter jets, magnets made of rare earth minerals that are mined or processed in China are needed to start the engines and provide emergency power.

On precision-guided ballistic missiles favored by the US Army, magnets containing Chinese rare earth materials rotate the tail fins that allow missiles to home in on small or moving targets.

And on new electric and battery-powered drones being adapted by the Marines, rare earth magnets are irreplaceable in the compact electric motors.

China's decision to retaliate against US President Donald Trump's sharp increase in tariffs by ordering restrictions on the exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets is a warning shot across the bow of American national security, industry and defense experts said.

In announcing that it will now require special export licenses for six heavy rare earth metals, which are refined entirely in China, as well as rare earth magnets, 90 percent of which are produced in China, Beijing has reminded the Pentagon—if, indeed, it needed reminding—that a wide swathe of American weaponry is dependent on China.

"This decision is hugely consequential for our national security," said Ms. Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Beijing, by beginning with what one Air Force official called a "heads-up" shot meant to signal how much more harm it could inflict, has left itself with plenty of room to escalate.

China could move on from the licensing restrictions to impose tariffs, quotas or even an all-out ban.