China’s retaliation against President Donald Trump’s tariffs includes more export controls on rare earth minerals, which are vital to electronics and battery manufacturing.
The Chinese government said over the weekend that it will maintain its supply of rare earths to the rest of the world stable while limiting U.S. access to the minerals.
China is the world’s dominant producer of rare earth minerals, accounting for about 70 percent of the world’s supply at the moment. More precisely, China supplies roughly 60 percent of the raw minerals, but controls almost 90 percent of processing and refining capacity.
China controlled 90 percent of the market a decade ago, but alternative suppliers have ramped up production. The Chinese retaliated for this infringement upon their near-monopoly
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