European Union ministers have urged Brussels to take a “tough” response to China’s latest restrictions on rare earth exports.
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EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday that he had requested a call with Chinese Minister for Commerce Wang Wentao to discuss the “unjustified” measures.
He added that he had received “a lot of concerned calls from European industry, especially car companies”.
Last week, Beijing announced further controls that meant products with small traces of rare earths as well as processing equipment would need a licence.
The latest curbs were widely believed to be designed to give Chinese President Xi Jinping leverage against his US counterpart Donald Trump should the pair meet in South Korea at the end of the month, but European firms fear they will be caught in the crossfire.
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Sefcovic said that although Brussels had been talking to China about the curbs, only half of its applications had been “properly treated” and that “of course, makes it very difficult for planning, for business development in our companies”.