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I think a very important thing to understand about the current industrial situation is the complexity. Like back in WW2 the Soviets rapidly grew in industrial capacity as did others during the war, and while its not impossible to do that in some areas even today certain industries are so complex that theres no way to just blitz it. Like a smart phone isnt a car. You need dozens of highly complex supply chains to make so many different teeny tiny parts and until you have all of them theres no market for any of them. The only way to do it in any feasible timeframe would be to start at the top end, and import the parts and assemble them domestically. Then slowly over decades build out the lower and lower levels of the supply chain.

Refining rare earths isnt the same thing as melting steel. Steel requires resources and scale which sure isnt childsplay but is way easier to pull off than the insane purity you need for processing rare earths just to get a tiny amount.

Plus theres the human element. The volume of expertise for something like this in the US just doesn't compare to China in the slightest. They'll probably try to import expertise too, but idk who in their right mind is gonna move to the US right now.