This monopoly of rare earths by China has to be met. It’s almost a blackmail item.
China has a rare earths order because the USA, and the West (Australia, for example) GAVE IT TO THEM.
Rare earths are usually by-products of other minerals mining, particularly uranium (something else we’ve given away). They are energy-intensive, often radioactive, and produced using acid-leach systems.
Places like green-leftist California made it impossible to continue production in the USA.
It *is* a blackmail item. China won’t sell any rare earths unless the product created with them is then manufactured in China.