Despite administrative efforts to build a domestic rare earth supply chain, US miners are exporting significant volumes to Asian markets like Japan and South Korea due to sluggish local demand. This trend highlights the ongoing challenges in decoupling critical mineral processing from foreign dependencies.
Background
The US has been actively trying to reduce reliance on China for rare earth elements, which are critical for defense and technology sectors. However, building a complete domestic processing infrastructure remains difficult and costly.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Jul 8, 2026 at 09:26 PM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10