Germany and the EU as a whole, as well as South Korea, are staring at a deficit of rare earth elements, while the U.S. and Japan are busy making supply deals, according to the top executive of Australian rare earths miner Arafura. The recent U.S. government deals to buy stakes in projects and miners in North America in exchange for supply are poised to ease America’s dependence on Chinese supply, which has been choked for more than a year after Beijing restricted rare earths exports to the West. “So the EU and in particular,…