We Sold China the Keys to Our Supply Chain, Then Called It a Threat

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:06:03 +0000

The same CFOs who spent the 1990s applauding offshored rare earth processing as a “lean operations win” are now testifying before Congress about Chinese supply chain aggression. I find this genuinely hard to watch — not because the threat isn’t real, but because the framing is so dishonest. We didn’t stumble into rare earth dependency. We sprinted toward it, quarterly report in hand, and called it genius.

The Arbitrage Was the Point

Here’s what actually happened: refining rare earth elements is dirty, expensive, and technically complex. China offered to do it cheaper. Western companies, answerable to shareholders who care about margins and not much else, said yes. Again and again, for thirty years. The executives who structured those deals got bonuses. The shareholders got returns. The workers in those regions of China got the pollution. And everyone went home satisfied.

Rare-Earths on BRYSGO

We Sold China the Keys to Our Supply Chain, Then Called It a Threat

The Arbitrage Was the Point