Rare earths could determine the world's balance of power

Rare earth magnets have a major role to play in modern warfare

- DAVID FICKLING

In retrospect, the symbolism of the moment was foreboding. On 15 May 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning US firms from doing business with Chinese telecommunications companies, including Huawei Technologies. Five days after that first broadside in a brewing trade-and-technology war, China's President Xi Jinping was photographed touring a factory producing rare-earth magnets.

Such devices, his visit seemed to imply, could be a geopolitical weapon for China quite as potent as advanced semiconductors are for the US. Six years later, those battle lines are hardening. In the first major US-China trade dispute of Trump's second term, Beijing was able to use its control of rare earths to force Washington to a deal struck in London recently. The magnets produced from them are essential for the lightweight powerful motors driving everything from automated car seats to guided missiles. After the US imposed its first round of tariffs in April, China started limiting export permits, causing US manufacturers to warn of imminent shutdowns.

Trump announced in a social media post last Wednesday that the trade deal had been finalized. But it had a worrying note of desperation. America has been caught napping.