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Counterpoint: Tungsten is about $1100/ton, so if demand averages 10k tons/year the annual US spend is about $10-12 million. That's peanuts in economic terms. If relations with China deteriorate the US could just set up a front company in some third country, buy tungsten, and re-export it.

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FYI, Tungsten prices are quoted in metric ton units (MTUs) [1], which surprisingly aren't metric tons. They're actually 1% of a metric ton -- or 10kg. [2] So the price of Tungsten is actually 100x that.

[1] https://www.fastmarkets.com/metals-and-mining/minor-metals/t...

[2] https://quoteddata.com/glossary/mtu/

My bad! Although I think at even $1 billion/year the US is probably not too worried about it for the time being. Thanks for schooling me on this!

China learned from watching the US use export controls against them, and they've adapted them to their rare earths exports[1]. They're not going to be as easily bamboozled as the US has been with nVidia cards.

[1] https://www.iiss.org/online-analysis/charting-china/2025/02/...

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