Trump’s Rare Earth Push Hits a Chinese Wall in Myanmar

US signals rare earth quid pro quo with Myanmar junta but China has a lock on the largely rebel-controlled minesPresident Donald Trump is miffed that the US is aced-out by China in processing rare earths that are especially prized for making strategic-use magnets. Those magnets are critical to creating high-tech weaponry and equipment used by the military and aerospace industries, including for US warplanes needed to check China. China hopes to strengthen its near-monopoly over the world’s military-grade processed dysprosium, terbium and other rare earth elements by securing rebel-held mines in Southeast Asia’s war-torn Myanmar while boosting support for its...