Without Chinese rare earths, the West threatens to impose tariffs on China
Without Chinese rare earths, the West is getting angry.
On the 24th, Reuters quoted sources saying that the G7 and the EU plan to set a price floor for rare earths and impose tariffs on Chinese rare earth products to stimulate local rare earth production.
The report said that although China has agreed to quickly issue rare earth export licenses for European companies, so far European companies are still facing losses and shutdowns - meaning that China's rare earth export approval has not alleviated the European rare earth shortage.
So, can setting a price floor for rare earths solve the problem?
Currently, it is difficult. The key to the Western rare earth shortage is not only the mining of rare earth minerals, but also large-scale, low-cost and low-pollution processing technology - according to data from the International Energy Agency, China controls up to 92% of global rare earth processing capacity.
From mining, separation to refining, China has a mature and efficient set of process technologies, which means that even if Western countries find rare earth sources, the mined rare earths cannot be rapidly refined and processed into products, and eventually they still have to rely on China's industrial chain.
Additionally, imposing tariffs and other pressure measures may prompt China to accelerate the transfer of its rare earth industry to high-value-added downstream products, and further refine export control measures, using its dominant position in the rare earth supply chain for countermeasures.
It should be noted that current control measures have already put European companies under pressure. If China implements more stringent controls and countermeasures, European companies that rely on Chinese rare earth products would be in a difficult situation.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1844210069868873/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.