Chinese buyers have been quietly stockpiling tungsten from scrap yards across the US, driving up prices of a crucial defence industry metal amid an escalating global race for critical minerals, US sellers told the FT.
Since early 2025, Chinese scrap traders have been seeking tungsten throughout the US, prompted by a shortage outside China caused by declining supply and intense demand from the aerospace, weapons and tools industries. The effort has set off a bidding war with American buyers and calls to ban sales of a critical national security resource to overseas buyers.
“We’ve got to stop the export back to China,” said Ryan McAdams, chief executive of Texas-based tungsten recycler and refiner Amermin. “This is a secret war that nobody’s talking about.”