China and India Sidelining America?

China asked India for assurances on Thursday that any heavy rare earth magnets it sells New Delhi will be used strictly for India’s domestic needs and not reexported to America. The request comes as relations between China and India are warming and trade frictions between China and the United States are intensifying. Those frictions have prompted China, which controls 90 percent of global heavy rare earth magnet production, to limit the export of these vital materials to many nations worldwide. If China receives the assurances it seeks, it will be able to continue inflicting pain on U.S. industry while empowering India’s electronics, aerospace, defense and other sectors. This development would advance the improvement in China-India relations and help set the two Asian giants on track for an alliance the Trumpet has long been expecting.