Rare Earth Retaliation: China Chokes America’s War Machine | Gerry Nolan

China just halted exports of key rare earths to the US, slapping export controls on seven categories of critical metals and magnets used in everything from EVs and smartphones to fighter jets, missiles, and drones, delivering a surgical strike to the spinal cord of America’s supply chain. Welcome to the new trade war: geoeconomic strangulation, without firing a shot.

China halts export of key rare earth minerals and develops a ‘regulatory system’ 

to completely block certain minerals from reaching specific US companies.

 

[...] You want to slap 145% tariffs on our goods? Fine. But good luck assembling a single Javelin, F-35, or iPhone without our dysprosium, terbium, and neodymium. China controls over 90% of global rare earth production. Washington just remembered that the hard way. This isn’t just a tit-for-tat move. It’s strategic economic warfare, targeting the soft underbelly of US dominance: the illusion that it can wage hybrid war without being vulnerable itself.

» Dumber than a sack of bricks. «

And now? The US is scrambling: Talking about deep-sea mining, rushing to build stockpiles, and begging Australia and Canada to step up. Canada, eh? Too little, too late. You spent three decades offshoring everything, and now your empire can’t build a toaster, let alone a missile guidance system, without Beijing’s blessing. Ok, maybe you can build a toaster, to be fair. [...] Every chip, every drone, every smart weapon in the Pentagon’s closet runs on components China can choke off in 48 hours. Trump called it “Liberation Day.” 

 

Quoted from:

Gerry Nolan (April 13, 2025) - Rare Earth Retaliation: China Chokes America’s War Machine.

The Panama Canal, Greenland, and Trump 2.0 | Andrew Korybko

Trump threatened that the US might retake control of the Panama Canal if it remains under indirect partial Chinese management and continues to charge the US what he described as exorbitant rates for passage. He then posted shortly after that, "For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity." Both are his for the taking if he really wants them, but it’s unclear whether he does.

 » Available for Trump to claim if he truly desires. «

As regards the Panama Canal, Trump's immediate imperative appears to be rolling back Chinese influence over this crucial waterway, which he seemingly fears could be leveraged by the People's Republic to cut the US off from transoceanic shipment in the event of a crisis over Taiwan. He might also want to coerce Panama into shutting down illegal migrant routes to the US via the Darien Gap. Both are sensible from the perspective of his MAGA worldview that aims to restore the US' unipolar hegemony.

His objectives in Greenland might be similar in the sense of ensuring that Chinese companies don't obtain a monopoly over that island's critical mineral reserves as well as preventing the construction of "dual-use infrastructure" that might one day give Beijing military and intelligence advantages. Direct control over sparsely populated and practically undefended Greenland, which formally remains part of Denmark, is seen as the most effective means to that end.

 

  » A monopoly over the island's critical mineral reserves. «

Trump's threat to the Panama Canal and his claim to Greenland are also likely meant to appeal to his supporters' expectations that he'll "Make America Great Again" in a visible geopolitical way. Even if he doesn't impose formal US control over them, expelling Chinese influence from both and replacing it with US economic influence could be enough to satiate them. This could also solidify his legacy and lay the basis for his successor, who'd probably be JD Vance, to establish formal control sometime later.

 

» Turn Mexico into an economic vassal to replace China in the supply chain. «

Both are Trump's for the taking if he really wants them since neither could meaningfully oppose the US military if he authorizes an invasion. They'd be low-cost operations with high economic and political returns even though they'd occur at the expense of the US' international reputation. The global community would predictably decry them as imperialist invasions, but nobody would stand in the US' way nor sanction it afterwards. The most that might follow is harsh rhetoric, nothing more substantive.

 

Quoted from:

Andrew Korybko (December 23, 2024) - The Panama Canal and Greenland available for Trump to claim if he truly desires them. 

See also:

Lu QiYuan (December 8, 2024) - Scott Bessent's Covert MAGA Strategy for Trump 2.0. 

 Pepe Escobar (November 28, 2024) - Trump’s Coming War on BRICS and the Global South.

TPR (November 15, 2024) - US Greenland 2029: Congressman Collins' Map Rekindles Trump's Dream.