It looks like China is about to weaponise geology.
China processes more than 90% of the world’s rare earths - the elements that make modern life work. Apple iPhones. Tesla Model 3s. Siemens MRI scanners. They all need rare earths to function.
So do wind turbines. And F-35 fighter jets.
From the 1st of December, Beijing will require an export licence for any product- anywhere on Earth - containing more than 0.1% Chinese rare earths.
That threshold captures essentially everything.
The mechanism is borrowed from America’s approach. It’s called the “foreign direct product rule” - the same tool Washington used to cut China off from advanced semiconductors. Beijing has adapted and reversed it.
Dean Ball, former adviser at The White House, puts it bluntly: “China has crafted a policy that gives it the power to forbid any country on Earth from participating in the modern economy.
For decades, we optimised supply chains to flow through China.
Now Beijing decides if they flow at all.
