On September 24, 2026, Singapore newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported that while the United States is rushing to build its own rare earth mining and processing facilities, it is expected to continue to depend on China for a considerably long period in the 2030s.

The article introduced information reported by Reuters, citing data from mineral consulting firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. It stated that after the launch of the second Trump administration, the production of the two most commonly used types of rare earths in the U.S. increased by more than three times, but it only met 42% of domestic demand, and the situation where nearly a quarter of demand must be met by imports is expected to continue even five years later.

It also reported that the goal previously set by the White House to completely ban imports of Chinese rare earths by January 2027 is now seen as almost impossible to achieve.

Furthermore, it introduced the point made by Zhang Keke (Coco Jang), an analyst at Dutch financial giant ING, that instead of aiming to become the world's largest rare earth supplier replacing China, the realistic goal for the U.S. is to establish an effective alternative supply chain to protect strategic industries during times of geopolitical instability.

The article also pointed out that the U.S. faces the problem of insufficient heavy rare earth processing capacity. It argued that the consequences of relying on China for mining and processing and neglecting to build its own industry for decades have come home to roost, making it extremely difficult to rebuild the refining capacity for heavy rare earths, which are essential for military applications, in a short period.

On the other hand, it also mentioned that movements to rebuild the supply chain by rare earth companies within the U.S. are beginning to emerge. U.S. MP Materials began supplying its own magnets to General Motors (GM) earlier this month, and USA Rare Earth also acquired mines in Brazil and a processing plant in France.

Furthermore, it introduced that initiatives toward building processing capabilities are underway, such as startup Enus Cycle signing a supply agreement worth 1 billion U.S. dollars (approximately 159 billion yen) with Swiss resource giant Glencore.

Finally, the article pointed out that China agreed last year to postpone the implementation of export restrictions until November 10, and that while a further extension of the restrictions might be discussed at the current summit, China still holds a powerful regulatory card. It concluded that if tensions escalate at the U.S.-China talks and China decides to implement an embargo, the risk remains that American manufacturing could suffer widespread damage.