The US Department of Defense called on Washington and Union Countries to increase the production and processing of rare earth elements to protect against the threat of reducing China’s export – industry leader, reports Reuters.
Rare earth elements – a group of 17 minerals – are strategically important for the United States. They are used both in military and commercial purposes, for example, for the production of weapons and electric vehicles. According to the representative of the Industrial Policy Department of the Pentagon Daniel Miller, increasing the volume of their production, the United States will ensure the stability of global supply chains. “We will not be able to solve our overall risk exposure in supply chains without a close partnership with industry,” Miller said.
Pentagon expects due to the development of the US mining industry will be able to withstand the growing influence of China – the main global supplier. Because of the trade war with Beijing, Washington is forced to pay high import duties. For the same reason, there is a threat that China will reduce the supply and thus strikes the American economy. “The internal production of strategically important materials is the final protection against the risk of deliberate non-market intervention in the global supply chains,” Miller said.
At the end of September, the EU called on European countries to develop their own production and processing and processing rare-earth metals to get rid of the need to buy these materials from China. The organization decided to allocate 1.7 billion euros on the development of the industry.