How did China gain monopoly over rare earth metals?
Cheaper production, relaxed environmental rules, and access to rare earth-rich regions helped China become a global leader. Starting in the 1980s, China developed deep expertise in extraction and processing rare earth metals. Since the 1990s, China has dominated production, driven by low prices and heavy state investment in infrastructure and technology. So much so, the US, once a leader in rare earth extraction, now sends its own mined metals to China for processing and refinement.
