now as the trade war between the US and
China rages on the Department of Defense
in Washington has submitted a report to
Congress on rare earth minerals as it
hopes to reduce America's reliance on
China's vast supplies Eastern je reports
where earth minerals are a group of 17
chemical elements which are used in a
wide range of consumer products from
electric car motors to smartphones as
well as military jet engines satellites
and lasers with simmering trade tensions
between the United States and China it
has raised concerns in Washington that
Beijing could use its dominant position
as the world's main supplier of rare
earths as leverage with that the US
Defense Department submitted a report to
Congress this week with a plan for a
federal program designed to bolster
production capabilities through targeted
economic incentives while the Pentagon
did not provide details it's hoped the
plan will reduce America's reliance on
China currently China supplies about 80
percent of US imports of the minerals
most rare earth minerals mined outside
of China still end up there for
processing with the lone u.s. mine in
California also sending its material to
China due to this China has used rare
earth minerals as leverage in its trade
talks raising tariffs to 25 percent from
the previous 10 percent while the u.s.
excluded the elements from its own list
of prospective tariffs on roughly 300
billion dollars worth of Chinese goods
to be targeted in its next wave of
tariff measures experts say despite the
u.s. plan to produce alternative rare
earth supplies it's not something that
can happen overnight as China will use
its stronghold on the minerals as a
powerful bargaining chip isn't a Arirang
news
