The US-China rare earths deal shows the importance of critical materials in a new era of strategic interdependence

Nguyen, Tien Viet ORCID: 0000-0002-7819-5069 and Harper, Gavin (2025) The US-China rare earths deal shows the importance of critical materials in a new era of strategic interdependence. USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog (31 Oct 2025). Blog Entry.

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Abstract

The accelerating shift to clean energy and advanced technologies is redrawing the map of global economic power. As nations and firms race to secure critical minerals, rare earths – small in trade value but high in strategic impact – have emerged as chokepoints for sectors from electric vehicles and wind power to AI and defence. With the US and China just agreeing to a one-year rare earth truce, Viet Nguyen-Tien and Gavin Harper revisit China’s “0.1 percent rule”, which limits rare earth exports, its potential to transform global supply chains, and the geopolitical risks that follow. As resource competition sharpens, resilience and innovation will be key to navigating this new era of strategic interdependence.

Item Type:	Online resource (Blog Entry)
Official URL:	https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States)
Date Deposited:	14 Nov 2025 12:42
Last Modified:	14 Nov 2025 12:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/130218

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