BEIJING: China placed some rare earth elements under export restrictions on Friday as part of its response to President Donald Trump’s tariff package, potentially cutting the U.S. off from critical minerals vital to everything from smartphones to electric car batteries.
China produces around 90% of the world’s refined rare earths, a group of 17 elements used across the defense, electric vehicle, clean energy and electronics industries. The United States imports most of its rare earths and most come from China.
Seven categories of medium and heavy rare earths including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium related items will be placed on an export control list as of April 4, according to a Ministry of Commerce release.
The move, which affects exports to all countries, not just the U.S., is the latest demonstration of China’s ability to weaponise its dominance over the mining and processing of the critical minerals.
Beijing announced the controls late on Friday as part of a broader package of tariffs and company restrictions in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision to hike tariffs against most Chinese products to 54%.
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Roughly three quarters of the rare earths the U.S. imports came from China between 2019 and 2022, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
While the export controls stop short of an outright ban, Beijing can throttle shipments by restricting the amount of export licenses it issues. China had exported no antimony to European Union countries as of March after imposing export controls on the metal last September.
While common in the earth’s crusts, China dominates the complex and dirty refining process and controls mining and output via a quota system that it has progressively tightened.
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