China Tightens Control Over Rare Earth Supply

China has expanded export controls on a growing list of rare-earth elements, adding five more—holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium—and requiring licenses for related magnets and manufacturing technologies.

Rare earths comprise 17 metallic elements, including scandium, yttrium and the lanthanides, and are essential to modern electronics, clean-energy systems and advanced military platforms. They power smartphones, electric-vehicle motors, wind-turbine generators, MRI scanners and components in jets, missiles and satellites.

Supply dynamics are concentrated: the International Energy Agency estimates China mines about 61 percent of the world’s rare earths and dominates processing with roughly 92 percent of global output. A U.S. Geological Survey found that between 2020 and 2023 about 70 percent of U.S. imports of rare-earth compounds and metals originated in China. The United States currently operates a single rare-earth mine with limited domestic processing capacity, creating a bottleneck for heavier, rarer elements that require specialized separation.

Analysts say the restrictions increase geopolitical leverage at a moment of heightened trade tensions and could disrupt manufacturing timelines for both commercial and defense sectors. Responses under consideration include boosting domestic processing, building allied supply chains, recycling existing materials and investing in alternative technologies, but implementation will take years.