At $205 a pound I don't see how these metals can be so rare. Nevertheless, I suggest it would be wise for the USA to maintain its own stockpile of REs, much as

At $205 a pound I don't see how these metals can be so rare. Nevertheless, I suggest it would be wise for the USA to maintain its own stockpile of REs, much as we have a strategic petroleum reserve. While the dollar can still buy something, go buy a million ounces of Terbium and put it on an empty :-) shelf in Fort Knox. That may drive the price up enough to stimulate domestic production. Even if not, it would provide a cushion against the day China embargoes exports. There's a lag between (say) the time you reopen the California mine and fabricated metals are created; the strategic reserve would be used during that interval. The point behind stockpiling is not to raise the price. I don't see this as a subsidy any more than I see education funding as a subsidy. The USA is trying to ensure an adequate future supply: metals in the one case and capable workers in another. This is not to imply there's an equivalence between people and essential materials. The obligation to children today is clearly greater than the obligation to have materials tomorrow. But you really should have both.