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The US and China remain mired in a seemingly never-ending bout of one-upmanship, characterized by tit-for-tat trade levies and strategic export bans, which, in the case of the US, revolve around semiconductors, while China has now flexed its own muscles by restricting the export of rare earth metals. In this highly volatile situation, a Tesla patent from 2023 could be the answer to the conundrum of de-risking America’s supply chains, at least where rare earth metals are concerned.
China has suspended exports of certain rare earth minerals and magnets to the US and around the world.
China is drafting a new regulatory approach to the minerals to prevent them reaching American companies pic.twitter.com/WX8Uh89gkO
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) April 13, 2025
As part of its repertoire of responses to Trump’s punitive import tariffs, which currently stand at an effective rate of 104 percent (down from a blanket import levy of 145 percent) following the imposition of a reduced levy of just 20 percent on China-sourced semiconductors, smartphones, and electronic products, China has now suspended the export of rare earth metals to the US while it drafts a policy to choke off supplies to the American military and its affiliates.
Not the ones that produce the rare earth metals and nowhere near the amount the modern world needs to sustain itself
Having an industry that can support the refinement of rare earths requires a massive amount of centralized planning and state policy investment into creating the…
— Yakubian Thought and Theory (@Mind_of_yakub) April 14, 2025
For the benefit of those who might not be aware, rare earth metals are used in an entire gamut of industries, including in the production of magnets for electric motors. In contrast to the commonly held view, the US can’t just start refining its own copious rare earth resources at the flip of a switch, for such a feat requires an intricate interplay of massive funding, energy, infrastructure, and vertically integrated supply chain partners. While the US can certainly establish its own rare earth domain, it would likely require the better part of a decade.
Slitted Magnet for Selective Coercivity: Tesla’s Novel Approach to Rare Earth Metal Reduction@Tesla‘s WO2024097176A1 patent introduces an innovative magnet manufacturing technique that transforms electric vehicle motor production through strategic cavity-based doping. By… pic.twitter.com/tZcaJ03OPG
— SETI Park (@seti_park) December 4, 2024
So, what’s the solution in the interim? Well, one idea centers around significantly reducing the use of rare earth metals in key industrial processes, and Tesla might offer one such avenue worth pursuing.
To wit, in a patent filed back in 2023, bearing the international publication number WO2024097176A1, Tesla describes a ‘keyhole surgery-like process’ to significantly reduce the need for rare earth metals in the manufacturing process of electric motors. The process involves the creation of “controlled-depth cavities (0.2-1.5mm wide) in magnet structure,” which then allow for the introduction of specific dopants. According to the patent, the process achieves desired magnetic properties while significantly reducing rare earth metal usage and manufacturing complexity.
Of course, it remains unclear if Tesla is using this approach in its gigafactories, and to what extent. However, the approach does stand out for its simplicity and, therefore, could constitute a viable avenue for de-risking America’s intertwined supply chains.
