The geopolitical tensions of recent years have highlighted the world's vulnerability to disruptions in the trade of critical raw materials. In particular, trade in rare earth metals (REEs) has come into focus. SJMs are key inputs for the green transition, advanced electronics, medical devices and, not least, for the defence industry. China's total dominance of processing and exports is therefore a potential geo-economic Achilles heel for Sweden. In the past year, China has once again imposed export restrictions on SMJ, which underlines the importance of the issue. There is currently no systematic analysis of Sweden's vulnerability to disruptions in the supply of SJM. This project aims to improve the understanding of this important issue. In a first subproject, we analyze Swedish firms' direct and indirect imports of SJM, based on detailed register and trade data. We investigate which industries and companies are most exposed and how the dependence has developed over time. In a second subproject, we use China's past export restrictions as natural experiments to analyze the causal effects on firms' employment, productivity, survival and adjustment strategies. By combining unique firm-level data with advanced analysis, the project will provide a clearer picture of Sweden's vulnerability. The project will also provide empirically supported recommendations on how to reduce Sweden's vulnerability to Chinese export restrictions of these critical metals.