from legal riots
The move comes a day after the Biden administration expanded restrictions on the sale of advanced U.S. technology to China.
Posted by Leslie Eastman
Readers of Legal Insurrection may recall my previous reporting on the Biden administration warning that Beijing planned to update rules restricting the shipment of artificial intelligence chips and chipmaking tools to China.
Now, a day after Biden's team tightened China's access to advanced U.S. technology, Chinese officials have ordered a halt to exports of several rare minerals to the country.
The ban demonstrates Beijing's willingness to engage in supply chain warfare by blocking the export of vital components used to make valuable products such as weapons and semiconductors.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would immediately stop selling so-called superhard materials such as gallium, germanium and antimony to the United States on the grounds that these materials have dual military and civilian uses. Exports of graphite will also come under greater scrutiny.
China is at the heart of many global supply chains, but during the first Trump administration it generally refrained from restricting its own exports, preferring more limited actions such as buying soybeans from Brazil rather than the United States. But senior Chinese officials are concerned that President-elect Donald J. Trump plans to adopt stricter policies during his upcoming term.
As Legal Insurrection readers know from my previous articles, these minerals are key components of the technology and devices we use on a regular basis. Over the past few years, China has begun to restrict exports through regulations and restrictions.
China said in July 2023 that it would require exporters to apply for licenses to ship strategically important materials such as gallium and germanium to the United States. In August, China's Commerce Ministry said it would restrict exports of antimony, which is used in products ranging from batteries to weapons, and impose tighter controls on exports of graphite.
Such minerals are considered critical to national security. According to a 2021 U.S. International Trade Commission report, China is a major producer of antimony, which is used in the production of flame retardants, batteries, night-vision goggles and nuclear weapons.
The restrictions announced by Beijing on Tuesday also include the export of super-hard materials such as diamonds and other incompressible and extremely dense synthetic materials. They are used in many industrial areas such as cutting tools, disc brakes and protective coatings. Licensing requirements announced by China in August also cover items such as smelting and separation technology and machinery related to such super-hard materials.
China is the world's largest producer of gallium and germanium, metals that are used in small quantities to make computer chips for phones, cars and other products, as well as solar panels and military technology.
China is the main global source of these materials, accounting for:
- 98.8% of refined gallium production
- 59.2% of refined germanium production
- Accounts for 48% of global mined antimony
Of course, it makes sense for the Biden team to start a war, albeit a trade war, before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office.
China issued new bans just two days after the United States restricted exports to 140 companies in China's semiconductor industry. The U.S. crackdown is the third in three years aimed at hampering China's ability to advance artificial intelligence technology for military applications.
Washington and Beijing are escalating tit-for-tat economic measures just weeks before President-elect Trump is sworn in for a second term. Trump, who launched a trade war against China during his first term, has escalated the standoff by threatening to impose a new package of 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports once he returns to office.
“It is not surprising that China has restricted the supply of these strategic minerals in response to current and upcoming increasingly stringent restrictions by U.S. authorities,” Peter Aker, chairman of the China Global Mining Association, told Reuters. “This is a A trade war with no winners.”
Two facts comfort me:
1) More than 2 billion tons of rare earth minerals have been discovered in Wyoming.
2) Starting January 2025, Native American racist and eco-activist Deb Haaland will no longer be in charge of the Interior Department.
Who knows? Trump might be able to sweeten the deal and get Denmark to sell Greenland to us, which would lessen our need for China, and even our father.
Relevant
