Many companies including the United States, Japan and Europe can finally breathe a sigh of relief. China has approved some qualified rare earth export applications and is preparing to deepen dialogue with other countries on export control issues.
The Ministry of Commerce of China issued a statement on its official website on Saturday, saying: "We have noticed that with the continuous expansion of civilian fields such as robots and new energy vehicles, the global demand for medium and heavy rare earths has continued to grow. As a responsible major country, China has always taken into account the legitimate civil needs of other countries, approved qualified export applications in accordance with the law, and will continue to strengthen compliance review procedures."
China is the world's largest rare earth producer, accounting for about 70% of the world's rare earth mining volume and refining production accounts for about 90% of the world's global rare earth mining volume.
Rare earths have always been a "trump card" in the hands of China. Faced with the US trade bullying, since last year, China has successively introduced three rounds of rare earth export control policies, accurately entering the US new energy vehicles, semiconductors and even military industries. not only protects its own resources, but also takes the initiative in international games.
But China's strategy is not to permanently cut off supply. Just like this policy "loosening", after the opponent felt "discomfort" and had to stop trade protectionism, China also released resources within its control in a timely manner, which will help maintain China's dominance in the rare earth market.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Saturday that at the invitation of the UK, China will visit the UK from Sunday to Friday and attend the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism. At the same time, China also expressed its willingness to speed up the approval of rare earth exports of European companies.
According to foreign media reports, China has issued temporary export licenses to rare earth suppliers serving the three major automakers in the United States, GM, Ford and Stratlandis, with some licenses valid for at least six months. Just one month ago, Ford's Chicago factory was forced to shut down for one week due to supply cuts of rare earth magnets. General Motors and Stralandis also said that if there is no more rare earth supply, the Detroit production line may be paralyzed within a few weeks. Therefore, for these American automakers, temporary export licenses are undoubtedly a life-saving straw.
However, so far, these export licenses are only temporary, and China has not confirmed whether these restrictions will be lifted. In fact, China has shown its attitude to limit the license period to less than half a year:Whether the subsequent relaxation depends on the sincerity of the United States.
