The modern world – from cell phones to computers to medical devices and satellites – depends upon the technical properties found in rare earth elements.
China’s early strategy of capturing a large market share – approximately 90 percent – of the production of rare earth elements now puts China in a controlling position over the production of materials critical to green technology and modern-day weapons systems.
On October 13, James Kennedy, an internationally recognized expert, visited the Baker Center and spoke about China’s monopoly over the production of rare earth materials and what that means for the rest of the world.
Throughout the past 40 years, China’s economy has grown at an exponential rate, far outpacing the United States, a boom made possible by Cold War policies from the US put in place as a way to geopolitically counterbalance the Russian threat at the time.