Rare metals used in most tech products could be cut off from U.S. by trade war with China

[Viceroy]

China controls roughly 80% of the mining, refining and processing of rare earths. Now,in response to President Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing is making not-so-subtle threats to cut off our supply of rare earths. And that's especially troubling, because as we reported in 2015, it was the United States that started the rare earth revolution in the first place.

A prime example of that is the new F-35 fighter jet, the most technologically advanced weapons system in history. Each one contains nearly half a ton of rare earths. Former White House Official Dan McGroarty says that's just for starters. Dan McGroarty: The guidance systems on weapons system and tomahawk cruise missile, any of the smart bombs have rare earths in them. Lasers. I'd be hard-pressed to name anything that we would consider worth building today and going forward that would not have a rare earth compound in it. Lesley Stahl: Because of this. Because of the monopoly on rare earths, does China threaten our national security? Dan McGroarty: Unchecked, yes. What finally woke up the U.S. government was an incident at sea in 2010. A Chinese fishing trawler rammed a Japanese coast guard ship in a territorial dispute. The Japanese seized the boat's captain... and two weeks later, China stopped shipping rare earths to Japan. Dan McGroarty: The Chinese cut them off. And for 30 to 40 days, the rare earths did not flow to Japan. So it was a real shot across the bow for the Japanese that this is something that you have to be worried with. It was a wake up call. Finally, 20 years after Deng Xiaoping's speech, rare earths were on the U.S. radar screen. [President Obama: This case involves something called rare earth materials...]

President Obama lodged a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization against China for creating shortages for foreign buyers and in 2014 the WTO ruled against Beijing. No one in the Obama administration would talk to us back then about rare earths and our dependence on China... including the Department of Energy... the Pentagon... or the U.S. trade representative. Even the private sector didn't want to discuss the problem. Lesley Stahl: We tried to get interviews with heads of companies that use the magnets and other products coming out of China, and they would not talk to us. Is there fear in high-tech companies that if they say something negative, maybe China won't sell them what they need? Dan McGroarty: I think that there is grave concern in these companies, but perhaps not a willingness to talk about that on a street corner. So what is the U.S. doing to restore the industry here? Out in California,

Molycorp was allowed to re-open after it developed new technology that protects the environment. The Pentagon has begun stockpiling rare earths, and industry is researching new technologies that would replace them. Lesley Stahl: Do you get any help from the U.S. government? They want to have a rare earth industry here. Constantine Karayannopoulos: Encouragement, yeah. Lesley Stahl: Encouragement, that's it? Constantine Karayannopoulos: Yeah. The government is not offering incentives like tax breaks or subsidies that would lure businesses into the market. Lesley Stahl: What needs to change to bring more of the industry back to the United States? Constantine Karayannopoulos: First of all, we need to take a long-term view. It took 20 years to lose the dominant position-- at least 20 years. And it's probably going to take us 10, 15 years, if we execute, for some of these supply chains to start coming back. Less than a year after our initial report, Molycorps, the owner of the U.S. Mountain Pass Mine, went bankrupt and shut the plant down. New owners - M.P. Materials - are redesigning the facility and hope to get the U.S.Back in the rare earth business to challenge China's near global monopoly sometime next year.