"The biggest threat the Transatlantic Alliance must face together is China's dominance of rare earths, which is a loaded gun pointed at the global economy," Moolenaar said during an online discussion held by the Atlantic Council.
He added that there is an urgent need for the US and its allies to cooperate in order to build supply chains for critical minerals and rare earths, which would hinder the growth of mining and processing of these minerals in China.
In late October, US President Donald Trump said that he had a "truly great" meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the latter agreed to "continue the flow of rare earth, critical minerals, magnets, etc., openly and freely."
Following the meeting, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said that the sides agreed that Beijing would pause its restrictive measures on rare earth exports for one year in exchange for the US pausing its rule sanctioning entities controlled by China at 50% or more.