CHINA - Rare Earth Minerals: The New World Currency?

[There] are a group of 17 metallic elements that are difficult to extract from the earth, but are crucial for U.S. defense. […] China curbed exports of some of those minerals as part of its retaliation against American tariffs.

In an interview with Morning Edition, Graceline Baskaran, the director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a D.C-based think tank focused on international public policy, said “China has an absolute dominance here.”

Rare earth minerals are actually a misnomer, because they’re not rare. They’re actually found everywhere, but in very small quantities in a lot of places. There are two types of rare earths—light rare earth and heavy rare earth—and they’re categorized by literally their weight. Now, these restrictions are targeted at heavy rare earths. The difficulty is that China actually processes nearly 100% of these, which means not only do they mine them, but they source heavy rare earths from around the world, bring them back and separate them.

-www.npr.org, 17 April 2025

Commentary: This article clearly reveals the interdependency of nations globally. In the past, it used to be oil that was the economic keystone. Now, it’s rare earth minerals, and China—as this article clearly documents—is the undisputed world leader.

What next? This is just another step toward the absolute requirement for global government. Yes, it is later than we may think.