The American military is dangerously reliant on minerals from China

Despite their name, rare earth minerals – which are essential for so many modern technologies – are not in fact rare. They are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust. The challenge is finding them in high enough concentrations and then processing them, both economically and sustainably. 

Most Americans are aware that China controls most of the rare earths but may be unaware that China both produces around 90% of the world’s refined rare earths and is home to the largest capacity for separation and purification, giving it a chokehold on global supply chains.

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Between 2020 and 2023, China accounted for 70% of U.S. rare earth imports, making it by far the country’s top supplier with Malaysia, Japan, and Estonia rounding out the top four.

As part of its response to President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese goods, China recently expanded export restrictions on seven rare earth elements, temporarily suspending overseas shipments of the minerals.

The seven rare earth elements include: yttrium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, and scandium. 

Stanley Trout, a metallurgist at the Metropolitan State University of Denver who has specialized in samarium magnets since the 1970s explained that samarium is different from the other rare earths. It is “almost exclusively used for military purposes.” 

The main American user of samarium is Lockheed Martin, an aerospace and military contractor that puts about 50 pounds of samarium magnets in each F-35 fighter jet.

According to Defense News, Lockheed Martin is producing over 150 F-35 Lightning IIs per year and they are aiming for 156 F-35s in 2025. 

The New York Times reported that officials in President Biden’s administration were so concerned about the U.S. military’s lack of a domestic samarium supply that they issued large contracts for the construction of two samarium production facilities. Neither was built because of commercial concerns, leaving the United States entirely dependent on China.

The U.S. currently has only one rare earth mine: the Mountain Pass mine in California. While it’s one of the richest rare earth deposits globally, nearly all of the ore extracted there is still shipped to China for final processing.

Key takeaways: 

  • China produces all of the world’s samarium.
  • America needs 50 pounds of samarium to build every F-35 fighter jet.
  • China just restricted the export of samarium to U.S. Big problem.

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