Restricting the supply of rare earth metals to the US is one way to retaliate. What are rare earth metals and why are they important to the US? Rare earths are not “rare” in the sense that there are small quantities in the earth's crust. The US imports 80% of the rare earth metals it needs from China, according to the US Geological Survey. Access to rare earth metals is vital for many US manufactured products, but the cost of the inputs is insignificant.

Source: Forbes May 23, 2019 12:14 UTC