US signs rare earth MOUs with Malaysia, Thailand. Can it hedge against China?

South China Morning PostCenterEN 2 min read 100% complete by Ralph JenningsOctober 27, 2025 at 11:30 AM

AI Summary

short article 2 min

The United States has signed memoranda of understanding with Malaysia and Thailand to increase critical mineral exports for use in automotive, defense, and hi-tech industries as a hedge against China's dominance in rare earth supply. These agreements follow an $8.5 billion framework deal between the US and Australia earlier this month. While industry support and time are needed to develop processing capacity before significant volumes reach US buyers, analysts believe these accords could reduce US dependence on Chinese rare earth metals in case of trade disputes. China currently controls about 70% of global mining for rare earths and 90% of processing output.

Key Topics & Entities

Chen Zhiwu 35% Charles Chang 40% Fudan University 40% Jon Hykawy 40% Stormcrow Capital 40% Center for Strategic and International Studies 65% Malaysia ×270% Thailand ×270% China ×385% US ×490%

Keywords

rare earth 100% china's dominance 90% mous 80% critical minerals 80% malaysia and thailand 70% us dependence 70% hedging strategy 60% trade dispute 60% export controls 50% processing capacity 50%

Sentiment Analysis

Positive

Score: 0.30

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Political Lean

Center (0.10)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

United States

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

rare earth china's dominance mous critical minerals malaysia and thailand us dependence hedging strategy trade dispute export controls processing capacity

Explore Full Topic Graph