In the latest round of feuding between the world’s leading economies, China has vowed to retaliate after the United States ordered its consulate in Houston shut within 72 hours. Although the latest move by Washington is being viewed as an attempt by President Trump’s campaign strategists to deflect attention for his failure to deal decisively with the Covid-19 pandemic, it could quickly escalate into another ugly tit-for-tat trade war. As trade and political tensions between Washington and Beijing flare up, the specter of China using rare earth minerals as a ‘nuclear option’ has once again resurfaced. It’s not a far-fetched idea: At the height of last year’s trade war between the two nations, China threatened to curb exports of rare earth minerals to the United States, responsible for supplying 80% of the country’s needs. It was not empty rhetoric, either: In 2010, China restricted exports of these vital minerals […]