China has announced it is banning exports of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials to the United States, citing their potential use in military technology. The move comes a day after the U.S. announced it would expand the list of Chinese companies subject to export controls on advanced technology. (AP)
Our Take
China’s dominance over the mining and refining of rare-earth metals needed to manufacture advanced technology has long been identified as a key source of leverage Beijing could potentially use against the United States. But even as the trade and tech war between the two sides escalated, China held off on playing those cards.
If it did so now, it is in part because of how much the tech war between the U.S. and China has ramped up during U.S. President Joe Biden’s term in office, as part of a broadening of the trade war that began under former President Donald Trump. In the past four years, the Biden administration has utilized strategic tariffs and trade restrictions to cut off China’s access to the technologies—in particular advanced semiconductors—that are driving the AI and next-gen tech revolution.
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