More than three decades ago, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made a prediction: “The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths.”

Today, China dominates the supply chains of the elements that power clean energy and the modern economy.

Now, other nations are racing to catch up.

The United States is spending $12bn to stockpile critical minerals, similar to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was created after the oil crisis of the 1970s.

Washington is proposing a trading bloc with allies, pushing for collective pricing and trying to build supply chains that do not run through Beijing.