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China’s Rare-Earth Supply Choke

China’s clampdown on the export of rare earth minerals and compounds has left the nascent Indian EV industry gasping for breath as it now finds itself without a critical raw material.

By Kiran Murali

05 Jun 2025

5495 Views

It was introduced as a tit-for-tat response to US imposition of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on global nations, but China’s clampdown on the export of rare earth minerals is threatening to deliver a crippling blow to India’s nascent electric vehicle industry.

The curbs, imposed in early April, have severely disrupted the production of lightweight magnets, critical to the design of the modern EV, with several Indian manufacturers warning of the entire production process grinding to a halt in days.

Rare-earth magnets, due to their smaller sizes and higher efficiencies, are widely used in EV powertrains and in digital systems across ...

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