Highlights

• China's near-total control of rare earth elements threatens global technology supply chains.
• University of Minnesota researchers develop breakthrough iron nitride magnets with superior performance.
• Potential technological solution offers abundant, monopoly-resistant alternative to rare earth materials.

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China’s April 2025 decision to restrict exports of seven rare earth elements sent shockwaves through global industry. Ford idled assembly lines, European suppliers shuttered factories, and defense contractors scrambled to find alternatives. The message from Beijing was unmistakable: rare earths had become a weapon, honed over decades of market domination.

China’s Long Game

Since the 1980s, China has carefully built near-total control of rare earths, flooding markets with below-cost products to drive out competitors. By 2024, Beijing commanded 90% of processing capacity. From electric vehicle motors to wind turbines and advanced electronics, the West had grown dependent on materials that could vanish with a political decision. The April restrictions exposed just how fragile that reliance had become.

An American Breakthrough

Yet even as China tightened its grip, researchers in Minnesota were quietly developing a way out. Professor Jian-Ping Wang (opens in a new tab) and his team at the University of Minnesota spent nearly a decade solving a puzzle that dated back to the 1950s. Their work on synthesizing iron nitride magnets revealed a material with magnetization surpassing rare-earth-based compounds, while also tolerating high temperatures of up to 200 degrees Celsius.

The implications are profound: the core ingredients—iron ore and atmospheric nitrogen—are among the most abundant resources on Earth. Unlike rare earths, these cannot be monopolized. What China sought to control through strategy and subsidies, American science may now undercut through innovation.

The Challenge of Deployment

But a breakthrough in the lab is only the beginning. China established its monopoly over three decades of investment, subsidizing losses to strangle its competitors. For iron nitride to truly alter the supply chain, Washington and industry alike must commit to similar long-term strategic backing. Without it, Beijing could once again flood markets with cheap rare earths to smother the nascent technology.

A Moment of Decision

The discovery of iron nitride offers more than just a new material—it provides a chance to rewrite the rules of the rare earth game. Yet the question is whether American policymakers will embrace the same patience and determination that China has wielded for decades.

_Source: “China weaponized science against the US. We've figured out a key element they missed,” Fox News, September 22, 2025.

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