China’s monopoly on global mining operations threatens the United States and the entire world. With the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently enacting price controls on critical minerals (CM) exports, the U.S. has decided to reindustrialize mining and bring operations back home. How much do you know about critical minerals? Play “Two Truths and a Lie” and find out!
A. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has globally dominated the critical mineral industry since the 1990s.
B. Globally, there are 121.3 million tons of rare earth oxide (REO) deposits, with the majority found in the United States.
C. The United States is working to expand beyond its one operational rare earth mineral mine.
A. TRUTH! The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has globally dominated the critical mineral industry since the 1990s. It’s now responsible for producing 60% of the global supply and processing 90% of rare earth elements. China still dominates every stage of the rare-earth supply chain. It controls nearly 70% of mining output and close to 90% of refining and separation capacity worldwide. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that in 2024, China produced 270,000 metric tons of REEs—roughly 69% of total global output—while the United States produced about 45,000 metric tons, or 11%. Between 2020 and 2023, about 70% of America’s REE imports came from China.
B. LIE! Rare earth elements (REE) are a subgroup of critical minerals comprising 17 heavy metals that are abundant in the Earth’s crust. They are commonly used as components in defense, energy, consumer products, and health technologies. Despite what the name suggests, REEs aren’t rare. They’re actually abundant in the Earth’s crust, albeit being difficult to source. Globally, there are 121.3 million tons of rare earth oxide (REO) deposits, with the majority—48.5 million tons (40%)—found in China.
REEs are used in over 200 products like smartphones, magnets, flat screen TVs, electronic displays, solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and defense components. Batteries, for instance, are dependent on cobalt, lithium, and graphite.
C. TRUTH! The Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California is the only operating REE mine in the United States. It accounts for about 15% of global production—an improvement from near zero a decade ago, but still far from sufficient to meet America’s defense and industrial needs. Currently, the U.S. imports 10,000 tons of REE, a subset of critical minerals, annually—or 70% of its supply—from China.
In July 2025, MP Minerals—which oversees the sole American REE mine in Mountain Pass Mine in California—announced a multibillion-dollar private-public partnership with the Department of War (DOW) to construct the new 10X Facility. By 2028, the company’s manufacturing capacity promises to reach 10,000 metric tons—the amount of REEs the U.S. imports from China annually. MP Minerals also intends to expand its existing mine’s operations to extract, separate, and refine REEs in one place.
Bottom Line:
Critical minerals, including rare earth elements, are essential to daily life, with the average American consuming three million pounds of materials, minerals, and fuels across their lifetime. Nevertheless, red tape and overregulation have made it impossible for new mine construction to proceed today. The average timeline to approve and build new mining facilities averages 29 years. That’s unacceptable. If the status quo continues, the U.S. will lose out on opportunities to grow our economy and reduce dependence on adversaries, all the while protecting the environment.
Overreliance on China for CMs and REEs has depressed our economy, invited national security risks, and invited environmental crises in developing nations. That’s why a plurality of Americans support permitting reform to speed up approval and construction of new U.S. mines. This common-sense policy serves America’s best interests.
To learn more, read the Policy Focus: Critical Minerals