Trade dispute
EU Chamber: China allows more companies to export rare earths
China has made exports of less frequent earths since April. According to the EU Chamber of Commerce, the situation improves somewhat. Is the risk of production stops in Europe averted?
In the dispute over China’s export controls to certain rare earths important for industry and magnets, the EU Chamber of Commerce sees a slight improvement in the situation. The number of export permits for European companies has increased, the Chamber said in Beijing. China apparently gave priority to the most urgent cases “to avoid a major crisis,” it said.
At the beginning of April, Beijing had occupied seven of those important metals with general export controls during the ongoing customs dispute with the USA. As a result, companies outside of China had to have the export of the raw materials approved in an elaborate application process.
Negative effects on production
“Our members still have problems with the approval process for export licenses, both because of the time required and due to a lack of transparency,” said chamber president, Jens Eskelund. This affects the production lines in Europe and other countries negatively.
In Germany, Europe, Japan and the United States, companies have already come under pressure because rare earths for engines or sensors are essential. In an emergency, a production stop could threaten.
China justifies procedure
China is the main processor of these raw materials worldwide. The Ministry of Commerce recently justified Beijing’s procedure with the fact that rare earths are so -called goods with a double purpose, i.e. civil or military. Exercise controls for this are therefore common internationally, said spokeswoman He Yongqian.
U.S. President Donald Trump is primarily upset about Beijing’s raw material policy. After a conversation with China’s President Xi Jinping the day before, he said without mentioning further details that there should be no problems with the rare earths. China had not mentioned talks about rare earths in his message after the phone call. The Foreign Office in Beijing did not comment on Trump’s statements and referred to the previous attitude of the People’s Republic on the subject.
dpa
Source: Stern
