Workers before a rare-earth refinery in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia, on Aug. 19, 2012. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
The United States needs to take action to break up China’s “near-total monopoly” on gallium, as failure to do so would send the wrong signals that Beijing could inflict “asymmetric pain” on the United States and allied economies, according to a new report published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on July 17.
“Firms and governments are understandably focused on rare earths, but they’re ignoring and misunderstanding China’s chokehold on gallium, a critical mineral that is crucial to military tech,” Brian Hart, deputy director and fellow of the China Power Project at the CSIS and one of the authors of the report, wrote on X to accompany the release of the report.
