One of the more ridiculous stories floating around concerning President Trump’s incipient trade war with China is that the enemy could win such a combat in just one move — by restricting their exports of rare earth metals. This won’t work, and they won’t try it either because they already did: only 8 years ago, and they lost, quite badly.
The suggestion popped up at the Week in a piece by Jeff Spross: “But if things do spiral into all-out trade war, it’s worth noting China has a nuclear option. I’m referring to rare earth metals.” The contention is that since China produces a lot of the world’s rare earth metals — even it’s less than many people think — and rare earths are necessary to build many of the new and exciting technologies, then if they ban the sale of rare earth metals, they win a trade war.
