G7 agrees to maintain a unified front on China's export control issues, achieving supplier diversification.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs, said on Thursday that G7 finance ministers agreed to maintain a united front, coordinate short-term responses to China's rare earth export controls, and achieve diversification of rare earth supply.
Dombrovskis said: "It is clear that G7 partners have common concerns about China's new broad export control measures, which not only expand the range of minerals covered but also cover the value chain, and have quite extensive extraterritorial provisions."
The G7's goal is clear: to achieve supplier diversification, but reality is not that simple.
Building a complete and economically competitive rare earth supply chain from scratch requires at least 5-10 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.
There are many other issues that cannot be resolved in the short term. The mining and processing of rare earths have significant environmental impacts, and new projects in G7 countries may face strict environmental regulations and opposition from local communities.
China's cost and technological advantages: After decades of development, China has formed the most complete and lowest-cost rare earth industry chain in the world. Even if the G7 builds new capacity, its products may still find it difficult to compete with China in price.
At the same time, there are technical barriers. In some high-value-added aspects of rare earth separation and purification, China still holds key technologies and patents.
The Earth is not short of rare earths, but the technology for purification and extraction. It is not a technical goal that can be achieved overnight. The G7 finance ministers' statement marks the beginning of a new era of geopolitical economic competition in the global critical mineral supply chain.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846186306670592/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.