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President Donald Trump blasted China precocious connected Truth Social, saying Beijing had "TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US." Trump furiously concluded, "So overmuch for being Mr. NICE GUY!"
Apparently, successful instrumentality for communal deescalation of commercialized tensions, Beijing had committed to again let the escaped travel of uncommon world minerals to the U.S. However, they did not travel done connected that promise. No wonderment Trump was angry; helium should not, however, person been surprised.
The White House volition effort to resoluteness this issue, and volition hopefully again trim communal tariffs. The banal marketplace volition observe a near-term resolution, concern managers volition exhale, and shoppers won’t hoard Barbies for Christmas.
TRUMP WARNS COURT RULING AGAINST TARIFFS COULD LEAD TO 'ECONOMIC RUINATION' OF US
But longer term, the Trump White House indispensable perpetrate to eliminating our dependence connected China for indispensable goods, which gives Beijing a stranglehold connected our economy. China is an force and cannot beryllium trusted. Relying connected them for uncommon earths oregon for different captious goods, similar pharmaceuticals, is dangerous.
The US and Ukraine signed a cardinal uncommon world minerals woody earlier successful 2025. FILE: Drag-line excavator mines uncommon world materials connected Ukrainian ungraded connected February 25, 2025, successful the Zhytomyr portion of Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Rare earths are "essential"; we request lanthanum and cerium, for instance, to marque camera lenses and catalytic converters, respectively. Indeed, we request uncommon earths to nutrient everything from cars to missiles to compartment phones. China accounts for astir 60% of planetary excavation output arsenic good arsenic 90% of processed materials. Our system comes to a virtual standstill without these products. The Chinese cognize this and volition instrumentality vantage of that reliance.
This is 1 crushed that Trump’s connection of a associated task with Ukraine is brilliant. If the 2 countries tin unneurotic statesman to excavation and process uncommon minerals, the U.S. volition person a vested involvement successful defending Ukraine against Russian aggression (while our beingness mightiness presumably deter different assault) and the undertaking would besides assistance alleviate our reliance connected China. Ukraine is location to 22 of the 34 minerals classified arsenic "critical" by the EU; we request them.
PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA IS OPEN TO ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITH US ON RARE EARTH MINERALS
It is not conscionable uncommon earths and minerals we should beryllium acrophobic about. Since the COVID-19 emergency, Americans person go progressively alert that we besides beryllium connected China (and to a lesser grade India) for galore essential pharmaceuticals, a reliance which could beryllium deadly should Beijing take to artifact exports.
In past year’s archetypal quarter, a full of 323 drugs were successful abbreviated supply, according to information published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the highest level since reporting began successful 2001. The shortages sent parents searching precocious and debased for amoxicillin and different medicine drugs for themselves and their kids.
The Covid pandemic revealed the downside of not being self-sufficient successful aesculapian goods, erstwhile Beijing chose to withhold captious drugs and idiosyncratic protective instrumentality from Americans. One of the astir outrageous derelictions of Joe Biden’s presidency was not addressing that unsafe vulnerability.
At the outset of the pandemic, China controlled astir half the planetary accumulation of products similar look masks and ventilators; though they expanded output 12-fold arsenic Covid spread, they stopped exports to the U.S. The United States, for its part, was importing astir 90% of the surgical look masks we used, adjacent though we had invented virus-filtering N95 masks and disposable nitrile gloves.
Between January and March 2020, Chinese exports of captious aesculapian goods to the U.S. fell sharply. China apologists reason (wrongly) that the diminution stemmed from tariffs placed connected specified goods during the archetypal Trump administration. Ventilators, oxygen masks and different aesculapian products were not covered by Trump’s tariffs against China; the fall-off was a purposeful determination by Beijing to restrict U.S. supplies.
Reacting to captious shortages, with wellness workers having to reuse masks and deterioration garbage bags implicit their heads for protection, U.S. firms stepped up and began producing the indispensable protective gear. But, arsenic the exigency waned, China resorted to its accustomed practices and flooded our marketplace with inexpensive products, undercutting U.S. manufacturers.
Ren Limin, a idiosyncratic astatine the Jinyuan Company's smelting workshop, prepares to determination the uncommon world metallic Lanthanum into a mould adjacent the municipality of Damao successful China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region October 31, 2010. REUTERS/David Gray
That’s erstwhile the Biden medication should person stepped successful to support U.S. producers; for an medication that exhibited an astir spiritual zeal for wearing masks, ensuring home output (and availability) would look a layup. They did not.
In April 2025, the New York Times reported, "Few home industries person been arsenic devastated by the flood of inexpensive Chinese imports arsenic manufacturers of look masks, exam gloves and different disposable aesculapian cogwheel that protects healthcare workers from infectious pathogens." At the tallness of the pandemic, immoderate 107 U.S. companies had started up to nutrient masks and glove; contiguous lone 5 remain.
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It was not conscionable PPE that became scarce. In 2020, the New York Times quoted a Chinese wellness specializer astatine the Council connected Foreign Relations saying, "Chinese pharmaceutical companies person supplied much than 90 percent of U.S. antibiotics, vitamin C, ibuprofen and hydrocortisone, arsenic good arsenic 70 percent of acetaminophen and 40 to 45 percent of heparin successful caller years."
ONE STATE’S NATURAL RESOURCES CAN FINALLY PUT AN END TO AMERICA’S RELIANCE ON CHINA
Congress, alarmed by revelations of U.S. dependence for PPE and pharmaceuticals, did what they bash best: ordered up immoderate studies connected the contented and demanded amended reporting. During Trump’s past twelvemonth successful office, his medication tried to boost domestic manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, but the effort died successful the Biden years.
In past year’s archetypal quarter, a full of 323 drugs were successful abbreviated supply, according to information published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the highest level since reporting began successful 2001.
This is simply a fixable problem. If we tin give hundreds of billions of dollars to boosting home accumulation of windmills and semiconductors, surely we should beryllium taking akin steps to extremity our dependence connected Chinese-provided drugs.
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The New York Times revealed the Biden administration’s multi-billion-dollar solution to cause shortages writing, "The White House earlier this period proposed… linking Medicare payments to hospitals successful portion connected whether hospitals bash a bully occupation buying drugs from companies that show prime implicit the agelong term, alternatively than conscionable the cheapest price."
That is not a solution. Instead, a solution would entail reducing our dependence connected China for indispensable goods of each kinds and making home manufacturing profitable again done little taxes, caller exertion similar AI and deregulation. These are policies that predominate the Trump agenda, and they volition enactment to marque the U.S. autarkic again.
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