China prohibits the export of critical minerals to the United States amid an intensifying trade dispute that predates Trump’s second term
One day after the Biden administration significantly reduced its own exports as part of its assault on China’s semiconductor sector, China declared on Tuesday that it would no longer export a variety of minerals with military and technological uses to the United States.
The minerals germanium, gallium, and antimony are prohibited in China. Graphite exports are likewise restricted. Batteries for electric vehicles, fiber optic cables, semiconductors, infrared technology, and bullets are just a few of the many products that employ these minerals.
These new controls only underscore the importance of strengthening our efforts with other countries to de-risk and diversify critical supply chains away from PRC (China),” a White House spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Reuters news agency.
“In principle, the export of gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States shall not be permitted,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in its directive.
According to consultancy Project Blue, China accounted for 98.8% of refined gallium production and 59.2% of refined germanium output this year. Last year, it accounted for 48% of globally mined antimony, which is used in items including nuclear weapons, ammunition and batteries.
China issued the new ban just two days after the U.S. curbed exports to 140 companies in China’s semiconductor industry. The U.S. crackdown — the third in three years — was aimed at stymieing China’s ability to advance artificial intelligence technologies for military applications.
The escalating tit-for-tat economic measures by Washington and Beijing come weeks before the swearing in of President-elect Donald Trump for his second term. During his first term, Trump launched a trade war with China, and he’s threatened to escalate the standoff once again with a new 10% blanket tariff on all Chinese imports once he returns to office.
“It comes as no surprise that China has responded to the increasing restrictions by American authorities, current and imminent, with its own restrictions on the supply of these strategic minerals,” Peter Arkell, chairman of the Global Mining Association of China, told Reuters. “It’s a trade war that has no winners.”