Over the past few days, the announcement that the U.S., EU and Japan have decided to file a WTO case against China over its restrictive rare earths policies has caused quite a stir. American Resources Policy Network principal Daniel McGroarty offers his perspective in a column for Forbes.

Having previously expressed skepticism over the WTO being the appropriate forum to address the issue at RareMetalBlog, McGroarty outlines three possible outcomes of a WTO case, none of which are overly appealing. His conclusion:

Instead of suing China to force it to continue to sell us what we need – and at prices it dictates – we should focus on developing the significant domestic supply of rare earths here in America.

That would bolster the global market for these precious commodities, reducing costs from raw materials all the way across the manufacturing supply chain, and ultimately to consumers. And it would do so without embroiling us in a bitter tit-for-tat trade war with China.

To read the full piece, click here. And, for more background information, here are a few additional video resources:

Dan McGroarty discussing rare earths on the Business News Network.

McGroarty discussing rare earths on CNBC:

McGroarty discussing copper on CNBC: