From ACE…

In a pre-emptive response to the latest reciprocal tariffs, China has banned the sale of terbium, erbium, thulium, and thallium to the United States, so-called “rare earth” elements critical to the production of advanced technology such as Nixie tubes and bubble memory. (Tom’s Hardware)

There are a few things to note here:

First, of course, it makes little sense to make a totalitarian fascist dystopia your sole supplier of anything.

Second, rare earth elements are not rare. What they are is messy and annoying to extract and refine, a fact that China used to take over the market. Australia, Brazil, Canada, and, yes, the United States all have significant mineral reserves available. And studies suggest that a square mile of seafloor mud is enough to provide the entire world with these metals for a year.

Third, China of course does this kind of thing all the time, and has restricted or outright banned sales of rare earth elements to other countries before.

Fourth, and perhaps most interesting, China now only produces 10% of its own rare earth resources. The same problem with them being messy and annoying to extract led it to move production to illegal mining camps operating in Burma, bypassing what passes for the government and working with local militias.

Rare Earths really are a filthy business. Nothing more to be said.