a rare earths state television recently showed the country's president xi jinping during a mining company in shanghai province she didn't have to say a word the picture seemed to carry a clear message that if u.s. president donald trump doesn't let up on the trade dispute china will cut off the u.s. from these vital commodities after the department of commerce brought the issue to the table it was clear to everyone china means business or. china will meet the reasonable demand of other countries for rare earths. but it would be totally unacceptable to us of these countries where they use rare earth to produce products used against china or to oppress us. china wants to defend itself against u.s. cherubs with a delivery freeze that would hit home hard the production of mobile phones solar systems computers and some weapons would grind to a halt without china's rare earths so the u.s.