Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), always looking for ways to shoot his country in the foot, entered a bill on Friday to ban all purchases of rare earths from China by 2026. China produces 60% of the world’s rare earths, irreplaceable in many high tech fields, while the U.S. has one rare earth mine and no means to process it. Building up that capacity certainly makes sense, but banning Chinese supplies is simply nuts.
China now supplies 80% of the U.S. rare earths imports.
