Which country dominates the processing of rare earth elements?

China dominates rare earth processing because it built specialized refining infrastructure over decades to separate these 17 chemically similar elements from ore, a technically difficult, environmentally challenging process many countries avoided hosting. So even ore mined elsewhere often still gets shipped to China for actual refining.

Canada has mining potential but processes far less than China. France, despite being an advanced economy, isn't a major rare earth player at all, so neither matches China's dominance.

Rare earths power the magnets in EVs, wind turbines, and precision-guided weapons, so China's near-monopoly on refining gives it leverage in trade disputes, prompting other countries to invest in their own processing capacity.