The Europeans will need to secure their own rare earths market...

The Europeans will need to secure their own rare earths market in order to guarantee the roll out of their EV fleet by mid next decade.
Many car markers will fade out fossil fuel cars entirely, see VW and Volvo.

These companies will want a stable environment and a business partner close to home with short shipping distances and refinement. The fact that we partner with Shenghe is only a plus as their expertise already improved our production costs materially compared to earlier predictions in 2016.
Such "stable" partners in countries with safe and transparent business practices have lengthy approval periods.
Greenland though usually processes new mines 5 to 10 times faster than, for instance, Canada.
The 10 year process leading to our current situation should enable the company to secure a first look from European industry, also due to their massive size of resource and projected longevity of the mine.

Regardless of the ongoing trade war between China and the US, the fact that the EV market will take over in Europe necessitates mining and processing within European borders.
The current geopolitical tensions only speed up the inevitable process.