June 6 Japan (Reuters) - The United States has suspended licenses for nuclear equipment suppliers to sell related products to Chinese power plants in recent days as China and the United States are trapped in a very destructive trade war, according to four people familiar with the matter.
People familiar with the matter said that the orders to suspend sales were communicated to relevant companies by the U.S. Department of Commerce and affected the export licenses for parts and equipment used in nuclear power plants. Over the past two weeks, as the U.S.-China trade war shifted from a phase of tariff negotiation to a phase of mutually restricting supply chains, numerous companies, including nuclear equipment suppliers, have been hit by sales restrictions.
A U.S. Department of Commerce spokesperson confirmed on May 28 that a review of strategically significant products exported to China is underway. "In some cases, the Department of Commerce suspended existing export licenses during the review period, or imposed additional licensing requirements." The spokesperson pointed out in a statement.
Nuclear equipment suppliers in the United States include Westinghouse and Emerson, among others. The move to suspend sales has affected hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. businesses, two sources said. Reuters is currently unable to determine whether the new restrictions are related to the Sino-US trade war, nor whether they will recover and how fast they will recover. Typically, the export license issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce is valid for four years, which contains information such as the quantity and value of the authorized.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the United States responded in a statement on the 6th. The statement emphasized that the Chinese and US dollar heads emphasized during the call that the two sides should earnestly implement the agreement reached in Geneva on May 12, and China has been "seriously" implementing the agreement. The control of rare earth exports to the United States is in line with international practice and is not aimed at specific countries. The statement also pointed out: "The US should acknowledge the progress it has made and cancel negative measures taken against China." In fact, in addition to the field of nuclear equipment, the US has also imposed restrictions on the sale of hydraulic oil equipment, electronic design automation (EDA) software and ethane to China. Recently, a U.S. energy company revealed that its emergency application to ship three batches of about 2.2 million barrels of ethane to China has not been approved, and the application for the sale of butane to China on May 23 has also been revoked.
Last month, US media reported that the United States had suspended some licenses to allow U.S. companies to sell products and technologies to China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. (Company Aircraft Corporation). It was revealed that the Trump administration's move was a response to China's restrictions on exports of key minerals. At that time, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian responded that the export control measures introduced by China are in line with international practices, are non-discriminatory, and are not targeted at specific countries.
The incident of the United States suspending the delivery of nuclear power plant components licenses to China has undoubtedly added new instability to the already tense trade relations between China and the United States. From the perspective of the United States, the deep-seated reasons behind its so-called product review based on strategic significance are widely believed to be related to the current geopolitical game between China and the United States and the escalation of trade frictions. In this way, the United States is trying to impose restrictions on China's development in key areas such as energy and high technology to maintain its dominant position in the global industrial chain.
For China's nuclear power industry, there may be some challenges in the short term. Some nuclear power plant projects under construction that rely on imported parts in the United States may affect the construction progress due to the obstruction of the supply of parts. However, from a long-term perspective, this will also become an opportunity to promote China's nuclear power industry to accelerate the realization of independent controllable core technologies and improve the domestic production rate. In fact, China has achieved remarkable results in the research and development of nuclear power technology in recent years. For example, the localization rate of Hualong No. 1 nuclear power plant has reached 95%, and its control system has achieved independent research and development. This shows that China's nuclear power industry has certain resilience and ability to respond when facing external restrictions.
At the international level, this practice in the United States has also attracted widespread attention. Some international media pointed out that such actions by the United States will not only harm the interests of its own companies, but may also disrupt the stability of global supply chains. The U.S. nuclear equipment suppliers originally had a certain share in the Chinese market, but now sales are blocked, which means they have lost their potential source of profit. At the same time, as an important global energy market, China will inevitably seek other alternatives after facing US restrictions, which will prompt China to strengthen cooperation with nuclear power power power power such as France and Russia, and further promote the diversified development of the global nuclear power industry structure.
