The US military is reportedly seeking to purchase up to $1 billion worth of minerals that are vital for the production of weapons<\/p>\n
The US Department of Defense is scrambling to stock up on approximately $1 billion worth of rare earth minerals due to China\u2019s new export controls covering materials that have a military use, Financial Times has reported.
\nAccording to the US Geological Survey, China accounts for nearly 70% of the global production of critical minerals, which play a key role in the manufacturing of most modern technologies and weapons systems.
\nIn an article on Sunday, the outlet, citing public filings by the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), reported that Washington had considerably accelerated its efforts to stockpile rare earths in recent months. The publication quoted an anonymous former defense official as saying that the US is \u201cdefinitely looking for more, and they\u2019re doing it in a deliberate and expansive way, and looking for new sources of different ores needed for defense products.\u201d
\nAccording to the British newspaper, some of the materials the Pentagon is now seeking to purchase were previously absent from its wishlist.
\nFinancial Times reported that the US military is looking to buy up to $500 million worth of cobalt, up to $245 million of antimony, up to $100 million of tantalum, and up to $45 million of scandium, among other materials.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
India to build rare earth element stockpile \u2013 media<\/p>\n
\u201dMarket participants have been taken aback by the volumes requested by the DLA,\u201d Cristina Belda from Argus Media consultancy firm told FT, adding that \u201cmany consider the quantities to be unrealistic, especially within the proposed five-year timeframe.\u201d
\nLast Thursday, China announced new export controls on certain strategic minerals that have dual-use in military applications, citing national security considerations. Under the new rules, foreign companies are to obtain special approval before exporting goods containing even minimal amounts of Chinese-sourced rare earth elements.
\nIn a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, US President Donald Trump wrote that Washington would \u201cimpose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,\u201d starting November 1. He said it was in retaliation for Beijing\u2019s\u00a0\u201cextraordinarily aggressive\u201d export restrictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US military is reportedly seeking to purchase up to $1 billion worth of minerals that are vital for the production of weapons The US Department of Defense is scrambling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t