How the US gave up its edge to China in processing vital rare earth minerals – and what that’s costing
A former Navy war-games adjudicator lays out how the US ceded rare earth processing dominance to China after California's Mountain Pass mine, hit by radioactive wastewater spills, shut its separation plant in 1998 and stopped mining in 2002. China now handles roughly 91 percent of global separation and refining, giving Beijing leverage that surfaced clearly in 2025 export controls, later suspended until November 10, 2026 as part of a truce tied to Trump's meeting with Xi Jinping.
Rebuilding the domestic chain has proven slow: the US committed more than $7 billion since April 2025, including a $400 million Pentagon stake in MP Materials and a $277 million grant plus $1.3 billion loan for USA Rare Earth, but new magnet plants aren't expected to test equipment until 2028. In June 2026 China placed both federally backed companies on its own export control list, a move Beijing said mirrored a Pentagon action, and Ford had already idled a Chicago plant for a week in 2025 for lack of magnets.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.