Why China may be better placed than US in tussle for rare earths

During his Southeast Asia trip in October, US President Donald Trump sealed deals with Malaysia and Thailand on the same day – both aimed at securing and diversifying America’s supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths.

Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim agreed to step up cooperation on building and expanding critical minerals supply chains, according to a White House statement. They also agreed to strengthen the security of critical minerals and rare earths supplies in the two countries.

Using similar wording, the White House said the US would also “strengthen cooperation [with Thailand] on critical minerals supply chains development and expansion” and promote trade between the two nations in areas including critical mineral resource exploration, extraction, and processing and refining.

The back-to-back deals reflect how resource-rich countries are becoming a key battleground in the contest between the US and China for control over rare earths and critical minerals.

But Beijing could be better poised to court these economies than Washington, according to analysts, since China has long engaged with resource-rich nations – from Southeast Asia to Africa.

They said these economies saw Beijing as a “partner that actually builds” and that investments from China typically came with no strings attached.

That compares to US investments, which they said tended to come with more conditions. And with the resource-rich Global South viewing the Trump administration as more “aggressive”, it could be an uphill battle for the US to break China’s dominance of rare earths.

South China Morning Post