Beijing is gearing up to use its dominance of rare earths to hit back in its deepening trade war with Washington. On rare earths specifically, the People’s Daily said it isn’t hard to answer the question whether China will use the elements as retaliation in the trade war. The nation’s producers have rallied hard in recent weeks on the view that rare earths could be an ace in the trade war. Rare earths aren’t particularly rare. China’s rare earth market is dominated by a handful of producers including China Northern Rare Earth Group, Minmetals Rare Earth Co., Xiamen Tungsten Co. and Chinalco Rare Earth & Metals Co.

Source: National Post May 29, 2019 13:05 UTC