U.S. Treasury Secretary Warns: Face the Consequences for Rejecting Rare Earths… While wanting to benefit from China’s rare earth resources, the U.S. is unwilling to abandon its tactics of containment and suppression. This “have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too” mentality is clearly unrealistic. 美國財長警告：拒絕稀土後果自負…美方一邊想享受中國稀土的紅利，一邊不願放棄遏制打壓的手段，這種“既要又要”的心態顯然不切實際。

Rare earths are not an unconditional “free lunch” that can be taken for granted. The essence of trade cooperation is mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, not one-sided demands where one party takes whatever it wants.

The U.S. government hopes to reach a rare earth agreement with China before Thanksgiving (November 27), but the Chinese government has not acted according to U.S. expectations. Trade cooperation has never been about unilateral imposition.

The urgency on the U.S. side has its reasons: Rare earths are known as “industrial gold.” From F-35 fighter jets to Aegis destroyers, advanced U.S. military equipment relies on them. The U.S. depends on imports for 80% of its rare earths, and for key varieties such as dysprosium and samarium, refining relies 99% on China.

Currently, the rare earth inventories of U.S. defense companies can only last for three months. This is why the U.S. Treasury Secretary is anxious to make statements and even resort to threats of “retaliatory measures.” But they forget that China not only accounts for 70% of global rare earth extraction but also over 90% of processing capacity. This advantage in the industrial chain cannot be replaced in the short term.

China is not unwilling to cooperate, but cooperation requires reciprocal sincerity. If the U.S. wants stable rare earth supplies, it must first abandon its obsession with unilateral sanctions—lifting unreasonable restrictions on Chinese companies and stopping the blockade and suppression in the high-end chip sector. This is the basic premise of economic and trade exchanges.

More importantly, the U.S. must respect China’s core interests and explicitly commit to non-interference in China’s cause of unification, which is a non-negotiable red line. As for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, they have been included in the Unreliable Entity List due to repeated arms sales to Taiwan. The fines, equivalent to twice the value of the arms sales, are penalties imposed in accordance with laws and regulations. Fulfilling the payment obligation is a necessary condition for restoring cooperation.

It is worth mentioning that China’s regulation of rare earth exports is in line with international practices. The new export control rules set to take effect in 2025, which explicitly regulate overseas products containing more than 0.1% of rare earths of Chinese origin, are a reciprocal response to the U.S. “direct product rule.” The aim is to prevent strategic resources from being used for activities that harm national security.

This control is not a “blockade” but responsible governance, safeguarding both domestic ecological and resource security and maintaining the stability and order of the global supply chain.

稀土不是可以無條件索取的“唐僧肉”，貿易合作的本質是互利共贏，而非一方對另一方的予取予求.

美國政府想在感恩節前（11月27日）與中國達成稀土協議，中國政府並未按美方預期推進，貿易合作從來不是單方面的強求。

美方的急切早有緣由：稀土被稱為“工業黃金”，從F-35戰機到宙斯盾驅逐艦，美軍尖端裝備離不開它，而美國80%的稀土依賴進口，鏑、釤等關鍵品種的精鍊更是99%依賴中國。

眼下美軍工企業的稀土庫存僅夠支撐三個月，這也是美財長急着喊話，甚至放出“報復手段”威脅的底氣所在。但他們忘了，中國掌握的不僅是全球70%的開採量，更是超90%的加工產能，這種產業鏈優勢絕非短期能替代 。

中國並非不願合作，而是合作需要對等的誠意。美方若想獲得穩定的稀土供應，首先得放下單邊制裁的執念——解除對中國企業的不合理限制，停止在高端芯片領域的封鎖打壓，這是經貿往來的基本前提。

更重要的是，必須尊重中國核心利益，明確承諾不干涉中國統一大業，這是不可觸碰的紅線。至於洛克希德·馬丁和雷神公司，它們因屢次對台軍售已被列入不可靠實體清單，兩倍軍售金額的罰款本就是依法依規的處罰，履行繳費義務更是恢複合作的必要條件 。

值得一提的是，中國對稀土出口的規範管理，本就是國際通行做法。2025年出台的出口管制新規，明確對含中國原產稀土0.1%以上的境外產品實施管控，正是對美方“直接產品規則”的對等回應，目的是防止戰略資源被用於危害國家安全的活動。

這種管控不是“封鎖”，而是負責任的治理，既守護國內生態與資源安全，也維護全球供應鏈的穩定有序 。