US Treasury’s Bessent: America “Taking Back Our Sovereignty” on Rare Earths and Pharmaceuticals

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Remember China is not a free market economy, but an economy significantly controlled by the Communist Party of China.

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Breitbart Business Digest in an exclusive interview that the Trump administration is determined to end America’s dangerous dependence on China for critical materials and pharmaceuticals, describing the effort as “taking back our sovereignty.” ...

Bessent laid out a strategy of “de-risking, not decoupling” from China across strategic industries including rare earths, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, steel, and shipbuilding.

How America Lost Its Rare Earth Industry

“It’s inexcusable,” Bessent said of America’s current vulnerability. “This is back to this unfettered free trade idea. The technology, especially in rare earth magnets, that’s being used against us — it was U.S. technology.”

The Treasury Secretary pointed out that the key technology in modern rare earth magnet production was invented by General Motors but was then later sold to a Chinese firm. The Chinese company was required to keep the business in the United States for five years. As soon as that period was over, they left the U.S. altogether.

“In a day, they moved it to China,” Bessent said. Since then, China deploys predatory dumping tactics whenever American companies attempt to establish rare earth facilities. “The Chinese come in, they flood the market with unfair competition, and no administration has done anything about it,” Bessent explained.

That cycle — Chinese dumping, followed by U.S. inaction — became a built-in deterrent to American investment. As a result, it became almost impossible to attract investment for rare earth production in the U.S. Would-be investors rationally feared the U.S. government would do nothing while the Chinese regime cooperated with Chinese rare earth makers to dump product on the global market at prices below the cost of production and bankrupt competitors in free market economies.

President Trump tried to address the issue in his first administration, Bessent noted, but environmentalists blocked the effort.

First Rare Earth Magnet Made in South Carolina in 25 Years

Now the administration is seeing breakthrough results. Bessent highlighted a facility in Sumter, South Carolina, where the first rare earth magnet manufactured in the United States in 25 years was recently produced. The plant represents 300 jobs, with 800 construction jobs created during its build-out. Bessent said the facility could expand to ten times its current size, potentially creating 3,000 jobs. ..."

Breitbart Business Digest

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