How to reverse the disadvantage of rare earths? The EU is secretly plotting a toxic plan, forcing China to set a price floor!

According to sources, the Group of Seven (G7) and the European Union are discussing a major plan targeting rare earths: setting a price floor for rare earths and imposing taxes on certain Chinese exports of rare earth products. A nameless EU official confirmed that the EU is studying various options including price floors, joint procurement, and reciprocal agreements within the G7.

Why are the G7 and the EU pushing for a price floor for rare earths? The answer lies in market laws. For many years, China's low production costs and competitive prices have made it difficult for Western countries to profit from new rare earth projects.

Recently, the United States has taken measures to support a price floor to promote domestic production, and Australia is also considering similar schemes. The price floor mechanism is essentially an umbrella of protection for Western rare earth companies, allowing them to survive in price competition with Chinese products.

China's advantage in rare earths is not accidental. A European corporate executive lamented, "The Chinese are excellent strategists, looking far ahead. European companies often make plans by quarters, while China makes plans for ten or even twenty years."

In June 2025, the EU added 13 overseas key mineral projects, increasing the EU's global strategic raw material network to 60. Market changes come faster than policies. The price of key rare earth elements used in high-strength magnets has surged to the highest level in two years.

The biggest fear of the West is that once they invest huge amounts of money to build a rare earth supply chain, China will immediately issue a regulatory order, flooding the rare earth market with extremely low prices, which could cause the rare earth industry painstakingly built by Europe and the US to collapse instantly. So how to deal with this? They came up with a toxic plan: forcing China to set a price floor.

But what they failed to calculate is why China should listen to them? When the rare earth regulatory order is issued, it's a seller's market, and who decides the price is China's freedom. Why should China necessarily listen to the G7 and the EU? Perhaps they are just too confident.

Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1846577772423176/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.