The EU is negotiating with China access to rare earth metals – a key raw material for industry
Rare earth metals are essential in the production of components for the automotive, digital and defense industries. Over 90 percent of these raw materials used in the EU comes from China, which has the world's largest reserves. The announcement of export restrictions on October 9 caused concern among European producers.
After President Donald Trump's meeting with Xi Jinping, China's Ministry of Commerce announced a one-year suspension of export controls. EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič confirmed the agreement is “erga omnes”, which means it applies to all trading partners, including the EU.
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Problems with the Chinese licensing system
The issue of Chinese import licenses was also raised during the technical talks in Brussels. From April, companies must obtain permits to import products containing rare earth metals or using Chinese processing technologies. The European Commission raises concerns about the functioning of this system – only half of EU applications were processed correctly, which affects the production capacity of European companies.
In response to the instability of supplies, Šefčovič proposed the creation of a mechanism for joint purchases of critical raw materials by the EU. Thanks to the scale of the common market, the EU could negotiate more favorable price conditions and accumulate stocks in Europe. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani suggested that rare earth metal storage facilities be established in Italy.
