It certainly looks like Xi is beginning to panic ~ shooting himself in the foot is a desperate measure considering it is his own SOE Rare Earth producers that are going to feel the pain ! ROW competition will not even be coming online for at least another Eighteen months. If he was at all smart he would be jacking RE prices up to make hay while the sun still shone on China.
As I said earlier, he is way too late to stop Western development, Putin has shown the ROW what can happen when you let any one Country dominate a commodity !
In the interim, Western EV/Turbine/Robot manufacturers should make the most of the cheap prices, all the better for Market development.
PM8 Price at posting:
$1.66 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held