China has broadened its export restrictions on rare earth elements (REEs), adding five more elements to its controlled list and tightening rules targeting users in the semiconductor industry.
The move, announced last week, has sparked concern among Western governments, particularly as China produces over 90 per cent of the world’s processed rare earths — critical materials used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and military radars.
The European Union is now working to coordinate its response with the United States and other G7 partners.
The issue took centre stage during an EU trade ministers’ meeting in Denmark, held just days before an expected meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic criticised the measures, describing them as unjustified.
Ministers expressed “critical concern” over the new restrictions, recalling the global shortages that followed China’s previous export controls in April, which strained car manufacturing and other industries before emergency deals with Europe and the US eased the supply crunch.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen urged a unified stance, stating the bloc must take a “tough” approach alongside its allies.
“But we also need to be realistic. This is actually an area of common interest with our friends in the US,” said Rasmussen.
“If we stick together we can much better pressure China to act in a fair way.”
Sefcovic suggested that G7 coordination could include developing joint projects to extract and process critical minerals outside China.
“Of course these projects take time, but with this signal we got from China it is clear we have to focus on accelerating these processes as much as possible,” he said.
According to the Financial Times, the Pentagon has recently moved to acquire up to US$1 billion in critical minerals as part of its effort to build strategic stockpiles and reduce dependence on China’s supply chain dominance.
