Supply chain warfare: China blocks rare earth exports to American military suppliers China is implementing a “validated end-user” (VEU) system, fast-tracking rare earth exports to civilian firms while blocking military-linked suppliers, undermining U.S. defense readiness without openly violating trade agreements. Controlling 70 percent of global mining and 90 percent of processing, Beijing leverages rare earth dominance to disrupt U.S. defense, aerospace and tech industries—critical for F-35 jets, drones, electric vehicles and wind turbines. Defense contractors and firms like Boeing and General Electric face severe supply chain bottlenecks, while opaque approval processes create uncertainty, mirroring past U.S. export revocations that unsettled China. Despite President Donald Trump’s decoupling…