US and Japan move to loosen China’s rare earths grip — nations partner to build alternative pathways to power, resource independence
The US and Japan have signed a rare earths and energy cooperation agreement aimed squarely at China’s chokehold on critical tech supply chains. Announced on October 28 in Tokyo, the agreement commits both governments to securing mineral flows and accelerating the deployment of advanced nuclear power. The timing of this is obviously no accident. President…
The US and Japan have signed a rare earths and energy cooperation agreement aimed squarely at China’s chokehold on critical tech supply chains. Announced on October 28 in Tokyo, the agreement commits both governments to securing mineral flows and accelerating the deployment of advanced nuclear power.
The timing of this is obviously no accident. President Trump is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week, and today’s announcement served as a pointed signal that the US is actively building alternative pathways around China’s resource leverage. This is the first major bilateral engagement of Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office on October 21.
With projects like OpenAI’s Stargate and xAI’s Memphis facility well underway, and US fabs like TSMC Arizona already lobbying for dedicated power capacity, nuclear power is becoming a hardware issue. If the US-Japan partnership succeeds in fast-tracking advanced reactors, it could influence where, and how affordably, next-gen GPUs and AI servers are built and deployed.
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