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By Jasmine Laws
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The trade battle between China and America has been intensifying this year, with various tariffs being imposed by both sides, and now, rare earth minerals have taken center stage.
A map, created by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of the Interior, shows more than 800 areas identified by researchers as showing geological evidence of systems containing 23 types of minerals in the U.S. These include some with rare earths.
However, while America has "extractive access to rare earth elements from a mining stage," the downstream processing is "almost entirely dependent on China," Elsa Olivetti, a professor of materials science and engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Newsweek.
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Why It Matters
There are 17 rare earth minerals, and these are part of a wider group categorized as "critical."
China is home to a third of the world's rare earth mineral deposits, it controls around 90 percent of the world's production, largely because it has lower labor costs and less rigorous environmental regulations—rare earth mineral mining and production is recognized as being environmentally harmful.
As a result, America relies heavily on China for its rare earth mineral supply, and between 2020 and 2023, China accounted for 70 percent of the U.S.' imports, according to Statista.
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What To Know
America "used to be the world’s largest producer of rare earth minerals until the 1980s," Saleem Ali, a professor of energy and the environment at the University of Delaware, told Newsweek. After that point, China dominated global production.
While America still has major deposits of rare earth minerals, getting the infrastructure "back in place to extract and refine them is lacking due to community conflicts, litigation and costs," Ali said.
"For the majority of these elements, the constraint is not geological scarcity, but rather a lack of processing and manufacturing capacity or know-how," Olivetti said.
She said that the processing and separation of rare earth elements requires "many tens of hundreds of meticulous solvent extraction to isolate individual rare earth elements," which she said has a significant environmental impact and must be "managed carefully and with technical expertise."
Meanwhile, "China dominates all stages of many critical mineral supply chains not due to geological luck but rather a strategic model of prolonged state support," she added.
As a result of these challenges, the U.S. is now "highly reliant" on China, Ali added, which poses a problem given the escalating trade war.
The U.S.-China trade war over minerals has been intensifying over the years, but this year, after President Donald Trump brought in tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing officially clamped down on export controls of rare earths.
The first of the controls was established in April, whereby foreign companies would have to obtain a license to export items from China containing seven rare earth minerals.
This had major repercussions for U.S., European, and Japanese companies, and while hundreds of export license applications have been filed with Chinese authorities since April, it is estimated that only 25 percent have been approved.
While the U.S. was removed from China's trade blacklist in May, on October 9, Beijing's Ministry of Commerce announced that it would be implementing more export controls on rare earth minerals.
The move added five more—holmium, erbium, thulium, europium, ytterbium, and, as a result, magnets and materials containing the minerals—to its list of items under trade controls, bringing the total number to 12 out of the 17 known types.
The ministry said the additional controls were to "safeguard national security and interests."
In response, Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by 100 percent and to cancel his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 29. He said Beijing's move would have global implications.
“There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World 'captive,' but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the 'Magnets' and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position, a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least,” Trump said on Friday in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
What People Are Saying
Republican Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, on X: "America is rich in critical rare earth minerals and we must be able to responsibly mine them, in order to not only compete with China, but also for our independence and national security. President Trump and his admin are working to accomplish this however there are many obstacles such as lawsuits, environmental, and permitting issues blocking our ability to mine and process our own rare earth minerals."
President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: "They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China…Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on Trade an even more surprising one. I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!"
Jonas Nahm, a professor of advanced international studies at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, told Newsweek: "The U.S. holds only a fraction of the world’s rare earth mineral reserves compared to China’s dominant share, and has far less variety and, perhaps most importantly, far less processing capacity. This gives Beijing far greater leverage over global supply chains: the U.S. depends heavily on imports for over 70 percent of its rare earth needs, with China long serving as the primary source even for processed materials from third countries."
He added: "China’s new rule requiring companies to seek permission before exporting items containing rare earths significantly amplifies that leverage, introducing uncertainty for manufacturers across defense, electronics, and clean-tech sectors. Expanding U.S. production faces major hurdles: rare earth extraction is capital-intensive, environmentally damaging, and hampered by complex permitting and local opposition. Even if new mines come online, building the downstream refining and separation capacity needed to rival China would take years—making a short-term response extremely difficult."
What Happens Next
While Trump's administration has already been implementing measures to expand production of critical minerals more broadly, both on land and offshore, some have said the U.S. urgently needs to increase its rare earth mining and production in light of the ongoing trade war with China.
The two primary methods used to mine rare earth minerals release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere or into groundwater and can have major public health impacts. As a result, countries typically have rigorous regulations around mining, making the process much harder to navigate.
Mining and environmental issues aside, Ali said that America could reduce its reliance on China if it became "more efficient with material usage and recycling."
Update 10/13/25, 11:18 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Elsa Olivetti and Jonas Nahm.
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