US Remains Hostage to China’s Rare Earth Metals Monopoly

Can the United States break China’s rare earth metal production dominance that it surrendered to them in the 1990s?

A loader shifts soil containing rare earth minerals to be loaded at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, for export to Japan, on Sept. 5, 2010. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

As the Biden administration commits the nation to transitioning from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles (EVs), the United States needs 10 times the amount of rare earth metals than it currently has or can produce to meet that commitment—and that’s just for EVs.