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The U.S. once had a monopoly on rare earths. How it lost to China

Planet Money tells the story of how the U.S. lost to China on rare earths.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Emily Feng is NPR's Beijing correspondent.
Kenny Malone is a correspondent for NPR's Planet Money podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for WNYC's Only Human podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for Miami's WLRN. And before that, he was a reporter for his friend T.C.'s homemade newspaper, Neighborhood News.