Experts warn that the US's ambition to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals depends heavily on rebuilding skilled talent and industrial know-how. The lack of a coherent, long-term strategy and weak education pipeline pose significant hurdles.

The US drive to reduce reliance on China for rare earths and critical minerals will take more than fixing resource and processing gaps, experts say, noting that the decisive factor would be talent. Eroding industrial know-how, a weak education pipeline, and the lack of a consistent long-term strategy could complicate US ambitions to become a mining powerhouse and rival or even surpass China, they warned. Rare earth supplies are expected to be on the agenda when US President Donald Trump and...