美国稀土产业：市场选择还是战略丧失

美国的稀土产业衰退并非源于疏忽，而是在市场机制下的主动让渡。1中国通过数十年的国策投资，已掌控全球超90%的稀土精炼能力，其中近99%的重稀土也在中国手中。1尽管整个稀土氧化物市场价值不足100亿美元，但这一产业已成为地缘政治筹码——2025年10月北京实施广泛出口管制，随后多次暂停管制作为交易工具，最近一次暂停至2025年11月10日，更广泛的贸易休兵则延至2027年1月10日。1

美国在历史上逐步放弃了这一领域的控制权。11990年代至2002年期间，美国关闭了加州山口矿；1995年通用汽车将磁性材料部门Magnequench出售给中资财团。12025年6月，北京将MP Materials和USA Rare Earth列入出口管制名单。1为重建独立的稀土供应链，五角大楼与MP Materials在2025年7月达成协议，包括4亿美元可转换优先股、贷款、股权认股权和10年价格下限保证。1同时，《独特而美好法案》为关键矿物提供最多1000亿美元的贷款授权。1

The United States did not inadvertently surrender its rare earth sector but rather allowed it to slip away through deliberate market choices, according to analysis examining how China came to dominate global rare earth processing.1 China now refines over 90 percent of the world's rare earth materials and nearly 99 percent of heavy rare earths, a position built through decades of sustained state investment that has transformed the industry into a geopolitical lever.1 The entire rare earth oxide market, despite its strategic importance, remains valued at less than $100 billion.1

American companies and policymakers have begun reversing course. In July 2025, the Department of Defense secured an agreement with MP Materials that includes $400 million in convertible preferred stock, loans, equity warrants, and a ten-year price floor guarantee to support domestic supply chain reconstruction.1 Congress has authorized up to $100 billion in loan authority for critical minerals under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.1 The strategic calculus shifted as China demonstrated the weaponization potential of rare earth supply—most notably when Beijing reportedly suspended exports during a 2010 maritime dispute with Japan, prompting Tokyo to yield almost immediately.1 More recently, China implemented broad export controls in October 2025, followed by selective pauses used as negotiating leverage, with the most recent suspension extended to November 10, 2025, and a broader trade pause extending to January 10, 2027.1 In June 2025, Beijing added MP Materials and USA Rare Earth to its export control list.1

The historical record reveals this was not an accident of policy neglect. The United States progressively shuttered California's Mountain Pass mine between the 1990s and 2002, and in 1995 General Motors sold its magnet materials division Magnequench to a Chinese-led consortium.1 Reversing that trajectory now requires addressing fundamental market failures through targeted financial intervention rather than hoping competitive forces alone will rebuild self-sufficiency.