The EU and Rare Earths: Dependable Diplomacy or Strategic Scarcity?

China produces more than 90% of global rare earth minerals, all with
crucial applications in the European economy. Recent export cuts by
China in these minerals have raised a number of trade-related,
economic and strategic concerns. Analysing the problem, this paper
asks what the EU’s response to the problem has been so far; would
pursuit of China’s export cuts through the World Trade Organisation
yield any meaningful results; what longer-term measures can the EU
adopt in order to ease future rare earth restrictions; and, what
obstacles stand in the way of such measures being realised.