Geopolitics and rare earths might just reshape your portfolio
I have always found it amusing how quickly a dull, grinding industrial problem can transform into a front-page crisis. For years, the rare earth market was a predictable game of bureaucratic posturing. We all knew the West was far too reliant on Chinese processing, yet nobody seemed in an enormous rush to fix it.
Then, just before a highly anticipated Xi-Trump summit, the taps suddenly ran dry.
Reports that Chinese suppliers are deliberately withholding shipments of these critical minerals to US buyers should make you sit up and pay attention. Rare earths are the invisible muscle behind everything from modern defence hardware to electric vehicle batteries. Historically, export limits were broad and murky. A targeted halt reads less like routine friction and more like a calculated weaponisation of trade.