During a tempestuous moment in the ongoing trade war between the world's two biggest economies, the Chinese government last October threatened to exercise its most potent economic leverage by ending exports of rare-earth minerals.
The bold move got results. The Trump administration, which had earlier threatened tariffs as high as 130 percent on Chinese goods, agreed to cut tariffs and ease tech export restrictions from the U.S. to China. In exchange, China said it would hold off on limiting rare-earth exports for at least a year.
