US Rare Earth Miners Sell to Asia Amid Slow Domestic Demand

American rare earth mining companies, backed by the Trump administration, are selling their output to Japan and South Korea rather than to US buyers. This comes despite Washington's stated goal of building a domestic rare earths supply chain to reduce reliance on foreign sources. Demand from American manufacturers and industries has been slow to materialize, leaving exportation as the more viable commercial route. The situation highlights a gap between the administration's strategic ambitions and the current readiness of the US industrial base to absorb domestically mined rare earths.