Rare Earths: Supply Chain Risks and Policy Responses

Governments are treating rare earth elements as core economic-security priorities as modern technology and defence systems depend on a small set of specialised materials.

These elements power permanent magnets, advanced electronics, radar, propulsion and precision guidance, creating interlinked vulnerabilities across wind turbines, electric vehicles, aerospace, medical imaging and consumer hardware.

Concentration risk is stark: midstream processing—separation and refining of rare earth oxides—remains heavily dominated by one country, while other nations maintain only limited capacity. That chokepoint amplifies the impact of disruptions and gives geopolitical dynamics outsized influence over industrial supply chains.

Policy responses now emphasize diversification of supply, investment in onshore processing and recycling, strategic stockpiles, and stronger governance to curb illegal production and environmental harms that can destabilize markets.

Analysts highlight cascading economic multipliers: a single supply shock can force production slowdowns or costly substitutions across multiple sectors, and defence applications make resilience especially urgent.

Building durable supply chains will require coordinated industrial policy, scaled processing capacity, technology for substitution and recovery, and international cooperation to reconcile efficiency with strategic autonomy.