Good morning. I’m subbing in for Justin Porter today. We have some exciting changes coming to this newsletter, so you’ll be hearing a lot more from me soon. For now, I have some thoughts I want to share on rare earths.
The world can have non-Chinese rare earths — for a priceHere’s what I thought I knew about rare earths: One, they’re important. (They’re in our smartphones! We can’t live without smartphones!) Two, they’re rare. Three, they come mostly from China, which mines and processes them in ways that are both dirty and ethically problematic. They’re certainly important: They’re needed not just in phones but in cars, semiconductors, medical imaging chemicals, robots, offshore wind turbines and a wide range of military hardware. But it turns out they’re not all that rare: They can be found all over the world. They’re just very spread out and hard to refine. And as it happens, the world doesn’t have to depend on China for them either. As I learned from reading two stories about rare earths by my colleagues this past week — one from China and one from France — relying on China for these strategically important resources was a choice: For Western countries, it outsourced pollution; for everyone, it kept production costs down. But rare earths could be produced differently. They could be cleaner. They could come from non-Chinese sources. All of this, however, has a price tag attached. Baotou vs. La RochelleThis year, my colleague Keith Bradsher traveled to Baotou, a flat, industrial city of two million people in the Inner Mongolia region of China that calls itself the world capital of the rare earth industry. While the air in Baotou no longer has the acrid, faintly metallic taste that he found during a 2010 visit, a huge lake of toxic and radioactive waste has not been cleaned up. He also traveled to Longnan, in south-central China, another town that produces rare earths. There, he found a creek in front of some mines that was, as he put it, “bright orange and bubbling mysteriously.” Contrast these scenes with the warehouse my colleague Jeanna Smialek visited in La Rochelle, a picturesque port city that has long ranked among the most livable places in France. A new rare-earths production line there takes recycled materials and, using “giant metal tanks topped by gently whirring motors,” distills out two key minerals used in magnets. (Fun fact: Rare earth magnets can be 15 times as powerful as iron magnets of the same weight.) The catch? It costs about 20 percent more than importing the rare earths directly from China.
Lower cost, higher riskImporting cheap Chinese rare earths comes with big risks. In April, in response to President Trump’s tariffs, China temporarily suspended almost all exports of seven kinds of rare-earth metals, as well as some of the very powerful magnets made from them. The resulting shortages at car plants in the U.S. and Europe — a Ford Explorer factory in Chicago had to close temporarily — brought home the real cost of outsourcing these strategic minerals. So the question is: Are countries prepared to shell out more, not just for cleaner rare earths, but also for their own strategic independence? It’s not clear that the answer is yes. Europe has, for example, long relied on cheap Russian gas and avoided investing in military deterrence. And even though China first cut off rare earth supplies to Japan in 2010, few countries have since taken meaningful steps to diversify. But reading these two pieces together, it’s hard not to be struck by the stark contrast between two different versions of the same industry. Rare earth production can be relatively clean. It doesn’t have to be the near-exclusive domain of a country that weaponizes its industry dominance. But this sort of rare earth would be more expensive. Is anyone willing to pay?
New York City’s ultrarich are headed to the Hamptons for the summer, where high-end grocery stores are adding new items — and higher prices — to their shelves. Forget $100 lobsters, how about a melon from Japan that sells for as much as $400? Shop owners admit there’s some rivalry in the race to serve a wealthy clientele. Lives lived: Norman Tebbit, a right-wing British politician who was once under consideration to be prime minister, died at 94.
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Sweden’s secret to well-beingStina Larsson, 98, has tended a garden in Stockholm for more than 40 years. It’s one of more than 7,000 garden allotments, known as koloniträdgårdar, that give residents a sanctuary where they can trade pavement for soil and buzzing traffic for birdsong. Rising interest in these urban gardens, particularly among younger Swedes, has led to an increase in prices for the plots in recent years, and the demand far outpaces the supply. Read more.
Cook: This comforting ground-chicken dish is layered with typical Desi spices. Watch: James Gunn’s charming take on “Superman” succeeds, our critic writes. Read: “Awakened” is one of this month’s best new horror novels. Train: Does breathing matter for your workout? We asked the experts. Travel: Here are a few handy tricks to make your long-haul flight with a baby less stressful. Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here. That’s it for today. See you next time. — Katrin We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at briefing@nytimes.com. |
