It says in the article: American companies are being put out of business by heavily-subsidized Chinese companies.
> Trying to enforce a tariff on element production from a subset of external countries seems sisyphean.
Apparently not:
> The company failed to obtain NAFTA benefits after U.S. authorities concluded that the metal came from China.
It helps to read the article you're commenting on ;)
It's in the US's interests that they don't allow another country to manipulate the market to destroy the US production capacity. Once that capacity is online the foreign country can then raise prices.
It's not easy or cheap to bring production capacity online.
Generally I'm pro-free trade, but the issue gets quite messy when you consider government subsidies. As a Canadian, this discussion comes up frequently along the lines of the subsidized agriculture sector.
I loved fantasy books as well.