中国在贸易战中拥有一项强大的武器，即限制外国取得稀土金属及其磁铁。这些材料对民用高科技产品（如核磁共振仪和电动车）与国防武器（如F-35战机和战斧巡弋飞弹）至关重要，而中国在稀土供应链中占据的绝对主导地位严重削弱了美国施加影响力的能力。

美国政府正试图透过政策提案、公私部门合作及投资国内企业来打破中国的稀土垄断。然而，稀土产业利润极低，且开采、提炼及达到标准的过程十分复杂，这使得注重短期财报的资本主义企业很难在缺乏经济效益的情况下维持生产与大量囤积。

为了解决这个问题，美国政府进行了大规模的供应链干预，包括入股生产商、签署保证最低价格的承购协议，并承诺为战略储备计划提供一百亿美元的债务担保。尽管采取了这些行动，西方国家仍未完全摆脱中国的稀土霸权，且中国也正采取反制措施，双方的竞争仍在持续。（关键数字：10）

China possesses a formidable weapon in its trade arsenal: the ability to restrict foreign access to rare earth metals and magnets. These materials are essential for civilian high-tech products (such as MRI machines and EVs) and defense weapons (like F-35 jets and Tomahawk missiles), and China's absolute dominance in the rare earth supply chain severely limits the US's ability to exert influence.

The US government is attempting to break China's rare earth monopoly through policy proposals, public-private partnerships, and domestic corporate investments. However, the rare earth industry has extremely low profit margins, and the complex mining and refining processes make it economically unviable for capitalist companies, which focus on short-term quarterly earnings, to sustain production and stockpile materials.

To address this issue, the US government has heavily intervened across the supply chain, including buying stakes in producers, signing offtake agreements to guarantee minimum prices, and pledging $10 billion in debt backing for a strategic stockpiling initiative. Despite these actions, Western nations are not yet free from China's rare earth hegemony, and China is actively fighting back, ensuring the rivalry continues.