... supplying country’s own disadvantage. Historical episodes, including the OPEC oil shock, the Soviet Union’s threats to natural gas supplies to the West, China’s rare earth embargo against Japan, and US semiconductor export controls against China, share a common pattern. First, the supplying country restricts exports of the resources and technologies it holds, or manipulates their prices, inflicting ...

Japan’s amended Act on the Promotion of Ensuring National Security through Integrated Implementation of Economic Measures, known as the Economic Security Promotion Act (ESPA), cleared the House of Councillors in June 2026. The amendment does five things: it widens the range of support available for securing a stable supply of specified critical materials, and so strengthens supply chains; it ...

... that distinguishes (i) the policy instruments deployed, (ii) the market structures these instruments produce, and (iii) the time horizon over which welfare effects unfold. Applying this framework to Japan, China, and South Korea, we find that the apparent conflict between the two policy domains often dissolves when policy effects are evaluated in context of instrument design and time horizon. Japan's recalibration ...