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<\/a><\/p>\nJulie Klinger,<\/a>\u00a0Assistant Professor of International Relations at the\u00a0<\/span>Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was quoted in a recent article on whether China’s near-monopoly of rare earth elements gives it leverage over the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n Klinger was interviewed for a June 3, 2019 article in\u00a0Financial Times<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>entitled “Rare Earths: Beijing Threatens a New Front in the Trade War.<\/a>“<\/span><\/p>\n From the text of the article:<\/p>\n During the following decade China overtook the US as the largest producer of rare earths, although at a heavy environmental cost. It was a \u201crace to the bottom\u201d, according to Julie Michelle Klinger, assistant professor of international relations at Boston University, with low environmental oversight allowing China to export at the cheapest prices. A toxic lake grew in Baotou, while the cost of cleaning the soil and water in Ganzhou runs to billions of dollars.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n