US rare earths flow to Asia as domestic demand is slow to emerge
The United States is exporting rare earth materials to Asia due to weak domestic demand, highlighting a gap between the country's mining capacity and its ability to process and manufacture these critical minerals for its own industries.
Background
Rare earth elements (REEs) — 17 metals critical for magnets in EVs, wind turbines, missiles, and electronics — are mined in the US but almost entirely processed in China, which controls ~90% of global refining. The US has tried to build domestic processing to reduce reliance on Beijing, but this article reports that American-mined rare earths are still being shipped to Asia for processing because US factories to refine them haven't scaled up. This highlights a gap between policy goals (onshoring critical supply chains) and commercial reality: without downstream buyers and processing infrastructure, raw materials will follow existing markets abroad.