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Critical minerals are the strand where the asymmetry runs the other way. China holds a dominant share of rare-earth mining, refining and magnet production, and has used export licensing as an instrument — including placing two US rare-earth producers on its own export-control list. A bilateral arrangement on rare-earth supply has been in effect, with its extension discussed at the Beijing summit, though Chinese curbs continued to bind in the meantime. The US response is industrial rather than regulatory: a multibillion-dollar strategic stockpile, Defense Department offtake and investment arrangements with non-Chinese producers, and critical-minerals agreements concluded with the European Union and Japan. Third countries with their own deposits, including Brazil, have declined to align exclusively with either side. Coverage divides on disjoint lines: Western, allied and industry outlets treat the dependence as a strategic vulnerability to be engineered away, while Chinese state media present export licensing as lawful regulation of dual-use materials and the allied minerals agreements as exclusive blocs that fragment global trade.
Each card below is one coalition with its own frame on the same contested phenomenon.
Weekly attributed-headline count per narrative. Visual asymmetry is signal: some coalitions dominate the vocabulary, others stay sporadic.
Loaded vocabulary per coalition and recent headlines under each frame.
Per-week distribution of events on this friction node. Click a bar to see that week's top events.
Click a week bar to select. Light blue = active week.
Countries directly involved in these tensions, or whose own outlets cover them.
Western, allied and industry coverage treating Chinese dominance of rare-earth mining, refining and magnet production as a live strategic exposure — hence the stockpile programme, Pentagon offtake deals, allied minerals pacts with the EU and Japan, and support for non-Chinese producers. The rare-earth truce is read as temporary relief, not a settlement.
Chinese state media framing of export licensing for rare earths as normal, lawful regulation of dual-use materials rather than coercion, and of US- and EU-led minerals alliances as exclusive blocs that fragment global trade. China's processing dominance is presented as earned industrial capability, not as a weapon.
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