Editor's note: this story was translated from the original VOA Mandarin article.
The United States is stepping up efforts to build an independent rare earth supply chain, as tensions with China over the issue of critical minerals threatens to complicate the two countries’ trade relationship.
The summit between the two countries’ leaders in late September extended a trade truce by only two months, while rare earths remained a key unresolved issue in negotiations.
Washington has responded with efforts to expand domestic production of critical minerals, support processing and magnet facilities, promote recycling and strengthen partnerships with other countries.
Importance of rare earth minerals
Rare earths are 17 metallic elements used in products ranging from smartphones and electric vehicles to fighter jets and nuclear submarines. They are especially important for permanent magnets used in motors and other high-tech equipment.
Until the 1990s, the United States was the world’s leading producer and exporter of rare earths. But rising environmental concerns and production costs gradually pushed the industry overseas, creating an opening for China to build a dominant position. China went on to develop a supply chain spanning mining, refining and magnet manufacturing — at one point accounting for more than 90% of the global market.
Analysts generally estimate that building a supply chain largely independent of China could take five to 10 years. Peter Navarro, the White House senior adviser for trade and manufacturing, has offered a much shorter timeline.
Speaking on Bannon’s War Room on September 25, Navarro said the U.S. could become self-sufficient in rare earth magnets — and even have enough capacity to export them — within six to 18 months.
Chia-Wei Jui, director of the Research Center for Science & Engineering at the Taiwan-based China Technical Consultants Inc. Foundation, questioned that timeline. But he told VOA that Washington is moving in several directions to reduce its dependence on China.
Jui pointed to Japan, which he said reduced its dependence on Chinese rare earths from 92% in 2010 to below 60% today.
The process will be difficult and time-consuming, Jui said, but the United States is “absolutely moving in the right direction.”
Building a domestic supply chain
The U.S. strategy includes building strategic reserves of critical minerals. In February, Washington launched an initiative modeled on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, aiming to maintain a 60-day emergency supply of minerals such as gallium and cobalt.
The U.S. government is also investing heavily in domestic mining and magnet production.
A September 27 Wall Street Journal report, citing White House officials, said 180 projects had been initiated. Data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that U.S. government non-equity investment in rare earth and magnet projects reached $7.6 billion between 2025 and June. That’s more than four times the total invested from 2020 through 2024.
Washington has also taken a direct stake in the industry. In July 2025, the Department of War spent $400 million to acquire 15% of MP Materials, a leading U.S. rare earth company. The government agreed to purchase the entire output of the company’s second magnet plant for 10 years and established a price floor.
Jui said the United States is also looking to “urban mining” to recover rare earths from electronic waste. Washington is supporting recycling programs and pushing legislation that would require manufacturers to collect and recycle used products, while offering tax incentives for companies that use recycled rare earths. The goal is to have recycled materials meet 20% of U.S. demand by 2030, he said.
U.S. companies are already making moves in that direction. Apple signed a $500 million agreement last year with MP Materials to produce rare earth magnets for the company using recycled materials, giving the emerging recycling market a major corporate push.
On the world stage, Washington launched the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement, or FORGE, involving 55 countries, and assumed its chairmanship in July.
Yuki Kobayashi, a senior research fellow of the Japan-based National Security and US-Japan Program at Sasakawa Peace Foundation, told VOA that cooperation among the United States, Japan and Europe could be critical.
Western and Japanese companies originally helped introduce rare earth refining and magnet-making technology to China, he noted. He added that although some of these companies now hold small market shares, they still possess the technology for refining rare earths and manufacturing high-performance magnets.
“Consolidating these technologies — with the U.S. and Japan at the core — is key to breaking China’s monopoly,” Kobayashi said.