Tech war: US opposes China’s metal export controls, saying they justify supply chain moves
- Beijing’s new restrictions on germanium and gallium exports ‘underscore the need to diversify supply chains’, US Commerce Department says
- Chinese Commerce Ministry says Beijing had informed the US and the European Union in advance about its decision
The Biden administration said on Thursday that it “firmly opposes” Beijing’s new restrictions on the export of germanium and gallium, two strategic materials essential to semiconductors, communications equipment and solar panels.
“These actions underscore the need to diversify supply chains,” a spokesperson for the US Commerce Department said in an email to the South China Morning Post, adding that Washington would “engage with our allies and partners to address this and to build resilience in critical supply chains”.
Tightening its grip over the metals is Beijing’s first major response to actions Washington has taken to limit China’s use of US technology in developing its own advanced computing and military applications.
On Monday, citing “security and national interests”, China’s Commerce Ministry announced the export controls on germanium and gallium products from August 1, a move that analysts said would intensify the US-China tech war and complicate Washington-led efforts to reduce reliance on China for critical materials.
It would take “considerable time and investment to recreate even a portion of critical mineral supply chains”, warned Paul Triolo, the senior vice-president for China at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business strategy firm.