Countering China's Dominance in the Rare Earth Element Market System.

摘要

This paper will discuss how the United States can exercise the economic element of national power to ensure access to rare earth elements (REE) in a China-dominated market system. Since the 1980 s, China has gained a virtual monopoly in the mining and production of REE. Today, China produces over 95% of all REE used by the world. The United States, its allies, and trading partners become increasingly dependent on REE each day as the world evolves into a more information based high-technology driven society. REE are vital to the United States high-technology economy, state of the art defense systems, and renewable and clean energy systems. China s virtual monopoly of REE allows Chinese control of prices, availability and production of high- technology products and materials to achieve Chinese political and economic ends. Since not all REEs can be produced in the United States, it is imperative that the U.S. creates a reliable, predictable, resilient, and cost effective REE global supply chain in addition to reestablishing a U.S. based production capability.