‘China’s been planning rare earths move for 30 yrs’: Bessent says India will join US in forming own supply chain
"Now this administration is going to move at warp speed over the next 1-2 years to get out from under this sword," said Bessent about China's rare earths restrictions.
- Nov 3, 2025,
- Updated Nov 3, 2025 8:52 AM IST
China has been planning its rare earths restrictions – a sword it continues to hang over the US as well as the rest of the world – for the past 25-30 years, said US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. He said that the US was asleep the whole time but now it is awake and is rallying its allies, including India, to form its own supply chain.
In an interview to CNN, Bessent said, “It was naive to think that the Chinese were not going to roll out these rare earths restrictions. They have been putting their rare earth plan together for 25-30 years and the US has been asleep. But now this administration is going to move at warp speed over the next 1-2 years to get out from under this sword that the Chinese have over us and they have over the whole world.”
“And this time we have rallied the allies – all the Western democracies, the Asian democracies and India are also going to join us in trying to form our own supply chains,” said Bessent, adding that Washington does not want to decouple from Beijing but they need to de-risk themselves if they want to survive an unreliable partner.
Rare earths had been at the centre of the US-China talks. Behind the scenes, China has tightened its leash on rare earths, while the US has been pumping millions of dollars to find an alternative. The Pentagon has granted $18.4 million to Ucore Rare Metals, developing rare earth processing technology, to build the first commercial plant in Louisiana. It is also pioneering membrane technology to bypass the rare earths’ extraction and purification process.
Meanwhile, Bessent had earlier announced that China will delay the implementation of new, stricter export controls on rare earth materials for a year, following two days of trade negotiations in Malaysia with senior Chinese officials including Vice Premier He Lifeng. He said that Trump’s threats of higher tariffs provided the US with the needed leverage to get the delay they wanted. The agreement temporarily removed the immediate risk of strict Chinese export controls, which could have affected global supply chains reliant on rare earth materials.
However, when asked what would happen at the end of the year-long period, Bessent said, "We’ll be back at the table and we’ll get another delay."
China has been planning its rare earths restrictions – a sword it continues to hang over the US as well as the rest of the world – for the past 25-30 years, said US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. He said that the US was asleep the whole time but now it is awake and is rallying its allies, including India, to form its own supply chain.
In an interview to CNN, Bessent said, “It was naive to think that the Chinese were not going to roll out these rare earths restrictions. They have been putting their rare earth plan together for 25-30 years and the US has been asleep. But now this administration is going to move at warp speed over the next 1-2 years to get out from under this sword that the Chinese have over us and they have over the whole world.”
“And this time we have rallied the allies – all the Western democracies, the Asian democracies and India are also going to join us in trying to form our own supply chains,” said Bessent, adding that Washington does not want to decouple from Beijing but they need to de-risk themselves if they want to survive an unreliable partner.
Rare earths had been at the centre of the US-China talks. Behind the scenes, China has tightened its leash on rare earths, while the US has been pumping millions of dollars to find an alternative. The Pentagon has granted $18.4 million to Ucore Rare Metals, developing rare earth processing technology, to build the first commercial plant in Louisiana. It is also pioneering membrane technology to bypass the rare earths’ extraction and purification process.
Meanwhile, Bessent had earlier announced that China will delay the implementation of new, stricter export controls on rare earth materials for a year, following two days of trade negotiations in Malaysia with senior Chinese officials including Vice Premier He Lifeng. He said that Trump’s threats of higher tariffs provided the US with the needed leverage to get the delay they wanted. The agreement temporarily removed the immediate risk of strict Chinese export controls, which could have affected global supply chains reliant on rare earth materials.
However, when asked what would happen at the end of the year-long period, Bessent said, "We’ll be back at the table and we’ll get another delay."