Abstract: The strategic mineral resources represented by rare earth have become the key raw materials indispensable for the development of strategic emerging industries in China and the United States in the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. In order to gain a comprehensive insight into the Sino-American rare earth industry chain, this paper systematically reviews the development situation of rare earth in China and the United States from the perspectives of rare earth resource reserves, production, technology and market by using trade data related to rare earth products from the United Nations Commodity Trade Database from 2014 to 2022, and further adopts market concentration, trade competitiveness and trade complementarity indices. To study and determine the rare earth trade relations, competitive situation and cooperation potential between China and the United States. The results show that: ① there is a significant structural imbalance in the proportion of rare earth resources in China. Although the growth rate of rare earth production has slowed down, the output is far higher than that of the United States, and the pattern of global rare earth production has not changed fundamentally. With its resource endowment and advantages in smelting, separation and processing technology, China’s rare earth industry chain has a prominent scale advantage in the upper and middle reaches, but the application field of scientific and technological innovation in the downstream links is slightly less than that of the United States. ② China and the United States are facing the risk of high market concentration due to the differentiated development of rare earth trade patterns. Among them, China’s rare earth trade forms a “import raw materials, export functional materials” model, while the United States is mainly focused on rare earth functional materials. ③ The average competitiveness and complementarity of China’s rare earth products are higher than that of the United States, and the competition and complementary products of the two countries in the rare earth industry chain are significantly different. In order to seize the leading position in the rare earth game, China should strengthen the exploration of heavy rare earth resources, increase investment in research and development in key areas, and enhance the level of independent innovation capability. Accelerate the global distribution of rare earth resources, and improve the trading system of multi-element rare earth. It will consolidate the competitive advantages of rare earth products, take measures to expand the space for trade cooperation with the United States and other fields, and ensure the sustained and healthy development of the rare earth industry.