Quick Read – REMX surged 146% since April 2025 as the purest rare earth play; LIT spreads exposure across 40 lithium-to-battery chain names. – China controls roughly 60% of global rare earth production and has invested over $120 billion in overseas critical mineral projects…
nce 2023. – China’s October 2025 expansion of rare earth export controls continues to ripple through equity markets eight months later. Three exchange-traded funds have absorbed most of the capital flowing toward the critical minerals supply chain: the VanEck Rare Earth and Strategic Metals ETF (NYSEARCA:REMX), the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (NYSE:LIT), and the Sprott Critical Materials ETF (NYSEARCA:SETM)
Each of these funds takes a completely different approach to the reshoring trade. If you are looking at the companies at the center of the export-control drama, REMX focuses on upstream miners of rare earths and strategic metals. On the other hand, LIT covers the entire lithium-to-battery journey, from raw mining to finished cell assembly.
Then there is SETM, which plays it much broader by scooping up a mix of copper, uranium, nickel, and rare earths, basically all the stuff we need to keep the energy transition and our defense industry moving forward. Why the reshoring trade keeps compounding Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s 2026 outlook framed economic security as a defining investment theme, citing China’s roughly 60% share of global rare earth production as a concentration that forces governments to subsidize alternatives. The report described the tariff regime as a structural force pushing companies toward shorter, more resilient supply chains.