Washington must urgently diversify its rare earth supply chains. China’s new export restrictions will essentially choke off all supply to the U.S. when they are implemented next month. That will leave a massive hole in U.S. supply—70% of which is currently sourced from China.
Ironically, one of the most promising opportunities for supply diversification lies in China’s own backyard: Central Asia.
Few Americans could find Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan on a map. Yet these countries have quietly shaped the modern world for centuries. Kazakhstan was the site of the first space launch. Uzbekistan’s medieval astronomer Ulugh Beg built the most advanced observatory of his time, charting the stars with uncanny precision long before Galileo. It is fitting, then, that this region now sits at the frontier of another scientific and technological revolution: the race for rare earth elements.
Read the full article on Barron's.
Joseph Epstein is the Director of the Turan Research Center and a Senior Fellow at the Yorktown Institute.