China Controls the Lifeblood of Modern Tech—Trump’s Rare Earth Move Is a Step, But Is It Too Little, Too Late?

If the collapse of trust in our financial institutions hasn’t alarmed you yet, perhaps this will: China controls over 80% of global rare earths refining capacity, and they’re not interested in playing fair. These minerals—dozens of obscure-sounding elements like neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium—aren’t just academic trivia. They're essential to everything from F-35 fighter jets and electric vehicles to smartphones and wind turbines. So when Trump signed an executive order to reverse Biden’s roadblock on Alaska’s Ambler mining district—and the U.S. took a 10% stake in Trilogy Metals—it wasn’t just political theater. It was a rare moment of economic pragmatism aimed at clawing back some degree of self-sufficiency in the face of an increasingly adversarial Beijing. We Are Dangerously Dependent on…