Rare Earth Wars: U.S. General Sounds Alarm Over China's Military Leverage

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China has already used its grip on rare earths against Western factories and U.S. defense firms. Now a retired four-star general is warning it will do so again, and he's saying it as a director of the company the Army selected to negotiate a dysprosium and terbium plant on one of its own bases.

Josh Owens is the Content Director at Oilprice.com and a veteran energy journalist with over a decade of experience covering global energy markets and geopolitics.…

On November 3, retired four-star General Jack Keane, the Army's former Vice Chief of Staff, put a warning on the record: China "has made clear it is prepared to use [America’s] dependence as leverage."

The dependence he's talking about is America's reliance on Chinese rare earths. And he didn't say it from a cable news set.

He said it as a director of REalloys [NASDAQ: ALOY], the company the Army recently selected for exclusive negotiations to build a plant to process dysprosium and terbium on one of its own military bases.

And the timing couldn't be more critical. According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the truce that has kept Beijing's widest rare earth rules on hold now runs only until January 10, 2027.

That's just nine days after the Pentagon's new magnet rules take effect.

In short, Keane is warning about a pressure tactic China has already used, and one it could use again this winter. And the Army is preparing as if that threat will be around for decades.

Beijing has spent the last year and a half showing exactly what that leverage against America looks like.

In April 2025, it put seven rare earth elements under special export licenses, and dysprosium and terbium were on the list. Western factories felt the impact within weeks.

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