The U.S. largest producer of rare-earth minerals, MPMaterials, has stopped exporting rare-earth minerals to China, especially uranium and uranium minerals, which are the core elements of the manufacture of uranium and uranium permanent magnets, widely used in electronics and state-of-the-art defense equipment.
The event appears to be the proactive choice of U.S. rare-earth producers, in fact a passive reaction under the Sino-U.S. trade game.MPMaterials is the only scaled rare-earth producer in the United States, with its Mantenpass mine accounting for 100% of U.S. rare-earth production, but the "U.S. rare-earth unicorn" is heavily dependent on the Chinese market – over the past three years, its 7-9% of uranium ore exports have filled the raw material gap in China's processing plants.
In April 2025, China imposed a 125% tariff on U.S. rare earth minerals in retaliation against the U.S. tariff war, leading directly to MPMaterials' suspension of business with China.This "breaking confession" appears to be a business decision, but behind the U.S. is strategic anxiety trying to get rid of China's dependence on rare earth, but the outcome is opposite.
Although MPMaterials owns mines, 90% of the U.S. high-performance magnets rely on Chinese imports, and its minerals must be shipped to China to be separated and purified – because China has 90% of the world’s rare earth processing capabilities, especially the “series extraction technology” invented by Xu Xu Xu, can ultra-high purity separation of 99.9999%, while U.S. enterprises have less than 95% of similar technology purity.
This technological generation gap makes the United States completely dependent on Chinese supplies of military-grade rare earth materials. Each F-35 fighter needs 417 kilograms of rare earths, and Virginia-class nuclear submarines consume 4.17 tons of rare earth elements. When China implemented export controls, 75% of U.S. defense contractors' inventories were only enough to last three months, and the F-35 production line was once paralyzed. MPMaterials' attempt to "cut off supply" has instead exposed the Achilles' heel of the U.S. supply chain: without China's processing capacity, its mining is meaningless.
The loss caused by the cessation of exports to the United States itself is emerging.The global price of potassium oxides has risen by 40% in two months, reaching $88 per kilogram, a two-year high.U.S. military enterprises have been forced to use strategic reserves, new energy companies such as Tesla have reduced production due to magnetic shortage, and General Motors has lost $2,3 billion a day.
More ironically, although MPMaterials received a $400 million injection from the US Department of Defense, its Texas magnet factory has a capacity of only one-tenth of China's monthly exports and cannot handle heavy rare earths.
This "disconnecting" attempt is like taking the stone to kick their feet - China's stock and resource companies have long set up multi-channel supply channels, filling the gaps left by MPMaterials with Sichuan mines and imported mines, while the United States is plunged into "mines without technology".
This rare earth game confirms an iron rule: decoupling will only lead you into the abyss, and cooperation is the king way. China has 37% of the world's rare earth reserves and 80% of permanent magnet production capacity. It will take the United States at least 17.8 years to try to rebuild its complete industrial chain.
The current difficulties of MPMaterials are precisely the shrinkage of the U.S. strategic shortage: its stock price has risen by 355% due to government investment, but actual production capacity and technology are still constrained by people. In contrast, China's double advantage through "resource + technology" ensures both its own development needs and becomes an indispensable hub for the global supply chain. History proves that the man-made cutting-edge industrial chain will ultimately reflect itself, and only open cooperation can win-win.
The event appears to be the proactive choice of U.S. rare-earth producers, in fact a passive reaction under the Sino-U.S. trade game.MPMaterials is the only scaled rare-earth producer in the United States, with its Mantenpass mine accounting for 100% of U.S. rare-earth production, but the "U.S. rare-earth unicorn" is heavily dependent on the Chinese market – over the past three years, its 7-9% of uranium ore exports have filled the raw material gap in China's processing plants.
In April 2025, China imposed a 125% tariff on U.S. rare earth minerals in retaliation against the U.S. tariff war, leading directly to MPMaterials' suspension of business with China.This "breaking confession" appears to be a business decision, but behind the U.S. is strategic anxiety trying to get rid of China's dependence on rare earth, but the outcome is opposite.
Although MPMaterials owns mines, 90% of the U.S. high-performance magnets rely on Chinese imports, and its minerals must be shipped to China to be separated and purified – because China has 90% of the world’s rare earth processing capabilities, especially the “series extraction technology” invented by Xu Xu Xu, can ultra-high purity separation of 99.9999%, while U.S. enterprises have less than 95% of similar technology purity.
This technological generation gap makes the United States completely dependent on Chinese supplies of military-grade rare earth materials. Each F-35 fighter needs 417 kilograms of rare earths, and Virginia-class nuclear submarines consume 4.17 tons of rare earth elements. When China implemented export controls, 75% of U.S. defense contractors' inventories were only enough to last three months, and the F-35 production line was once paralyzed. MPMaterials' attempt to "cut off supply" has instead exposed the Achilles' heel of the U.S. supply chain: without China's processing capacity, its mining is meaningless.
The loss caused by the cessation of exports to the United States itself is emerging.The global price of potassium oxides has risen by 40% in two months, reaching $88 per kilogram, a two-year high.U.S. military enterprises have been forced to use strategic reserves, new energy companies such as Tesla have reduced production due to magnetic shortage, and General Motors has lost $2,3 billion a day.
More ironically, although MPMaterials received a $400 million injection from the US Department of Defense, its Texas magnet factory has a capacity of only one-tenth of China's monthly exports and cannot handle heavy rare earths.
This "disconnecting" attempt is like taking the stone to kick their feet - China's stock and resource companies have long set up multi-channel supply channels, filling the gaps left by MPMaterials with Sichuan mines and imported mines, while the United States is plunged into "mines without technology".
This rare earth game confirms an iron rule: decoupling will only lead you into the abyss, and cooperation is the king way. China has 37% of the world's rare earth reserves and 80% of permanent magnet production capacity. It will take the United States at least 17.8 years to try to rebuild its complete industrial chain.
The current difficulties of MPMaterials are precisely the shrinkage of the U.S. strategic shortage: its stock price has risen by 355% due to government investment, but actual production capacity and technology are still constrained by people. In contrast, China's double advantage through "resource + technology" ensures both its own development needs and becomes an indispensable hub for the global supply chain. History proves that the man-made cutting-edge industrial chain will ultimately reflect itself, and only open cooperation can win-win.