Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again. So today, we're going to talk about

Trump versus China, Rare Earth Minerals Edition. In the spiraling global tariff tantrum, China has played a powerful card, Rare Earth Minerals.

China has started export controls of the critical materials. These minerals are

desperately needed by American companies. When we talked about non-tariff trade barriers that China

could employ, this would fall under that category. I know Dana didn't explain her on them this morning on Research Road,

but we'll do a quick rundown here as well. Rare earth minerals aren't really rare. They're

relatively common, but it's rare to find them in concentrated deposits that make it easy

and economically feasible to extract. China dominates this market.

Stats say that the U.S. obtains between 70 and 80% of the various rare earths from China.

Why does this stuff matter? Well, everything from green energy to electric cars to precision-guided munitions needs them.

Something that will probably get under Trump's skin more than anything.

That next generation F-47 aircraft he was talking up is definitely going to need them in large quantities.

Now, there are other suppliers in the world,

and under normal circumstances, the easy move would be to switch to Canadian sourcing for a lot of it.

However, Trump has also started a trade war with the longtime U.S. ally. While the companies may seek to fill the void left open by China's move,

Canada's government might see an opportunity to leverage its production capacity to deal with

some of Trump's other demands. This situation is why foreign policy can't be transactional.

A decision by a country on another continent can have

immediate impacts on relations with a bordering nation. It's about relationships and shared interests,

not quick deals. Domestically, the U.S. has rare earths, but the production capacity is nowhere near what the U.S.

needs it to be, and it would take years to really get it up to speed.

This leaves the U.S. military at a significant disadvantage right now.

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