It seems the term of the year of rare earths, given that hardly a week goes by without major headlines on their importance to the global economy. So let's take a closer look at rare earths news today.
President Trump warned this week that he could impose as much as 200% tariffs on imports with China unless China guarantees rare earth magnet shipments to the US. China has been sensitive about securing its control over the world's rare earths supply, adding several rare earth items and magnets to its export restriction list in April in retaliation to tariff hikes by the US. The move had an immediate impact: permanent magnet shipments to the US fell 58% in April and 81% in May compared with the prior month. We'll see what happens with this latest threat.
At the same time the US has been working to build out its own rare earths supply chains and Energy Fuels and US permanent magnet producer Vulcan Elements have teamed up to create what would be "a resilient domestic supply chain" for rare earth magnets independent of China. Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Tuesday, Energy Fuels will supply high-purity "light" and "heavy" separated rare earths — key materials in the magnet production process — to Vulcan as early as this year. Energy Fuels is currently producing these rare earth oxides from its White Mesa mill in Utah.
And prices of rare earth elements have surged to their highest level in more than two years after MP Materials recently halted shipments to China. For the past three years, MP Materials supplied between 7% and 9% of certain rare earths to China. But under its July deal with the Department of Defense, MP agreed to halt exports to China and refine its output domestically. The US government also offered price support—around double Chinese levels at the time—to secure production at home. The move is having significant impacts in China.
