US Rare Earth Decline Was a Choice, Not a Loss, Analysis Argues
A Hacker News-linked analysis contends that America's retreat from rare earth mining and processing was not an unavoidable loss to foreign competitors but a deliberate offloading of a dirty, low-margin industry. The piece argues that framing the shift as defeat obscures the policy and business decisions behind it. The topic matters because rare earths are critical to defense, electronics, and the clean energy supply chain, and control now sits largely with China.
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