US Pushes to Rebuild Domestic Rare-Earth Supply

The White House has made restoring rare-earth processing and magnet production a priority as part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains.\n\nA South Carolina facility has produced what officials described as the first rare-earth magnet made in the US in decades, signaling early progress in a strategy that combines tariffs, trade deals and direct investment.\n\nChina currently dominates global mining (roughly 70%) and refinement (over 90%), and in some elements such as dysprosium and samarium its share of processing reaches about 99%. The US imported roughly 80% of its rare earths in 2024, leaving critical inputs for EV motors, wind generators, semiconductors and certain defense systems vulnerable.\n\nPolicymakers are backing projects across the mine-to-magnet chain: the Pentagon has become a major investor in Mountain Pass operator MP Materials and supports a new 10X magnet plant. Officials have also discussed sovereign-fund style financing to compete with state-backed Chinese capital.\n\nExperts warn that scaling domestic mines and processing will take years, and that China’s cost advantage and export controls complicate near-term self-sufficiency. Still, coordinated investment and allied sourcing are accelerating a global scramble to diversify critical-mineral supply chains.