According to a text published by The Wall Street JournalDonald Trump’s efforts to revitalize its domestic rare earths industry could prove difficult to sustain, since although “Washington has committed to investing billions of dollars in a major American producer and buying its production, among other measures,” “China is likely to do everything possible not to lose its influence in the market.”
“The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths”
–Deng Xiaoping
Mexico City, October 22 (However).– These days, United States (EU) He is learning many things. But late. Or maybe he already knew and didn’t feel like he was in a hurry. Until he had it. It happened with the rare earththat mineral component that moves the world and of which China controls almost 90 percent of the market. But it also happened with the nuclear powerwhich previously dominated and where the Chinese, now, are kings.
The Wall Street Journal I said at the beginning of the week that when China tightened restrictions on exports of rare earth this month surprised the White Houseand was the last reminder of the control of Beijing about an industry vital to the global economy.
“Its dominance was built over decades. Since the 1990s, China has used aggressive tactics to accumulate and maintain its control over rare earth minerals, which are essential for making magnets needed for cars, wind turbines, fighter jets and other products. Beijing provided financial support to the country’s major companies, encouraged them to acquire rare earth assets abroad and passed laws that prevented foreign companies to buy rare earth mines in China. Over time, it consolidated its national industry, going from hundreds of companies to a few giants, which gave it greater influence over prices,” detailed the newspaper specialized in finance and business.
And when the United States tried to boost the revival of its domestic industry a few years ago, he added, China flooded the market with supply, plunging Western producers into a deep crisis.
“As valuations of Western rare earth companies plummeted due to low prices caused by soaring Chinese production, they were forced to slow their expansion and, in some cases, sell their mines to Chinese buyers. Beijing’s methodical approach to dominating the industry (today it produces about 90 percent of the world’s refined supply) reflects China’s ability to use state control over the economy to achieve goals that often elude the United States, where policymaking is more erratic,” he said The Wall Street Journal.
He also suggested that Donald Trump’s new efforts to revitalize his domestic rare earths industry could prove difficult to sustain. “Washington has committed to investing billions of dollars in a major US producer and buying its production, among other measures. But China is likely to do everything it can to not lose its influence in the rare earths market.”
“As recently as 1991, the United States was the world’s leading supplier of rare earths, thanks to a large Californian mine called Mountain Pass. But China also had rare earths in abundance, and its long-term strategy was becoming clearer,” he recalls. The Wall Street Journal.
And that same year, China passed a Law that classified rare earths as “strategic” and restricted collaboration between foreign mining companies and local companies to exploit certain Chinese deposits. The Government even prevented foreigners from visiting these mines without special authorization. He used export tax rebates to incentivize domestic companies to increase production. And it took 90 percent of the market.
Nuclear, nuclear
And now, China is quickly becoming the world leader in nuclear energy, with almost as many reactors under construction as the rest of the world combined, he says. The New York Times.
“While its dominance in solar panels and electric vehicles is well known, China is also building nuclear plants at an extraordinary pace. By 2030, China’s nuclear capacity is projected to surpass that of the United States, the first country to split atoms to generate electricity. Many of China’s reactors are derived from American and French designs, but China has overcome construction delays and cost overruns that have slowed developments. Western efforts to expand nuclear energy,” narrates the American newspaper.
At the same time, “China is innovating, making breakthroughs in next-generation nuclear technologies that have eluded the West. The country is also investing heavily in fusion, a potentially unlimited source of clean energy if anyone can master it. Beijing’s ultimate goal is to become a supplier of nuclear energy to the world, joining the few nations—including the United States, Russia, France and South Korea—that They can design and export some of the most sophisticated machines ever invented.”
As the United States and China compete for global supremacy, he adds The New York Timesenergy has become a geopolitical battlefield. “The United States, especially under the Trump Presidency, has positioned itself as the leading supplier of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. China, in contrast, dominates the manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries, and sees renewable energy as the multitrillion-dollar market of the future. Nuclear energy is experiencing a resurgence of global interest, especially as concerns about the change grow. climate. This is because nuclear reactors do not emit planet-warming emissions, unlike coal and gas plants, and can produce electricity 24 hours a day, unlike wind and solar energy.”
The newspaper maintains that the Trump administration aims to quadruple the United States’ nuclear energy capacity by 2050, even ignoring global warming, “and hopes to develop a new generation of reactor technology to power domestic data centers and sell them to foreign countries with high energy demands. Officials fear that if China dominates the nuclear export market, it could expand its global influence, as the construction of nuclear plants abroad creates deep and lasting relationships between countries.”
But in the race for atomic energy, concludes The New York TimesChina has a clear advantage: it has discovered how to produce reactors relatively quickly and at low cost. “The country now assembles reactors in just five or six years, twice as fast as Western countries. While nuclear power plant construction costs in the United States skyrocketed after the 1960s, in China they halved during the 2000s and have since stabilized, according to data recently published in Nature”.