The US Relies Heavily On Rare Earth Imports From China

As part of the retaliation against Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs on Chinese goods, China has imposed new export controls on seven additional rare earth elements, temporarily suspending any exports of the valuable minerals. 

The newly affected elements, namely samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, are critical components of a wide range of products, ranging from electric cars and semiconductors to military equipment such as missiles and drones.

While the new rules stop short of a full export ban, the affected metals will require a special export license going forward – granting Chinese authorities an extra layer of control over who is granted export rights. 

Once the system is implemented, certain companies, for example U.S. defense contractors, could be banned from importing the crucial supplies, which are very hard to substitute or source elsewhere.

As Statista’s Felix Richter shows in the chart below, the U.S. is heavily reliant on rare earth imports from China, which accounted for 70 percent of U.S. rare earth imports between 2020 and 2023, with Malaysia, Japan and Estonia the other three main suppliers of the United States. 

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Yttrium, one of the elements covered by the new rules, is almost exclusively sourced in China, with 93 percent of Yttrium compounds brought into the U.S. between 2020 and 2023 coming from China. 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. is 100 percent import reliant for Yttrium, which is primarily used in catalysts, ceramics, electronics, lasers, metallurgy and phosphors.

Looking at rare earth minerals in general, the U.S. was 80 percent net import reliant in 2024, meaning that net imports (imports minus exports) accounted for 80 percent of apparent consumption in the U.S. last year. 

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That’s down from 100 percent in 2020 and more than 95 percent between 2021 and 2023, as the U.S. ramped up domestic production of rare earth compounds and metals in 2024.