Over the past few years, the Chinese government has implemented a number of policies to tighten its control over the production and export of "rare earths"-a unique group of 17 metal elements on the periodic table that exhibit a range of special properties, such as magnetism, luminescence, and strength. Rare earths are important to a number of high technology industries, including renewable energy and various defense systems.

China's steel industry has grown significantly since the mid-1990's. China is now the world's largest steelmaker and steel consumer. In 2009, China produced over 567 million tons of crude steel, nearly half of the worlds steel. That was 10 times the U.S. production.