Scott Bessent: “China has 70% of the mining but 95% of the processing and…”

“So on Rare Earths for 20 years, any time, rare earths are not rare. What, what is rare is the processing and refining which China dominates. Which China has 70% of the mining but 95% of the processing and refining [of rare earths]. And for 20 years, any time anyone in a market based economy stood up a processor refiner, China came in, cut price and put them out of business.” (22:43–22:52)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.