Posted on 05 Jun 2025
Global automakers and governments are seeking meetings with Chinese officials to expedite the approval of rare earth magnet exports, Kallanish learns.
According to Reuters, diplomats from India, Japan, and Europe, along with carmakers and other company executives, are urging meetings.
During the recent Sino-European semiconductor meeting in Beijing, representatives from the European Chamber of Commerce expressed the urgent need for rare earth permits.
Indian carmakers have warned EV production could be compromised, and will organise executives to visit China for consultations in the next two to three weeks. A Japanese business delegation will visit Beijing in early June to discuss certain relevant restrictions with the Chinese commerce ministry.
South Korea’s industry ministry has asked China to issue more export licences because only a few companies have received them.
There are thousands of applications awaiting approval from European companies alone.
“If changes to the status quo are not accelerated, the possibility of production or even suspension will be inevitable,” Hildegard Mueller, head of the German automotive lobby VDA told Reuters on Tuesday.
China, the world’s largest rare earths supplier, in April imposed extra controls on rare earth exports. However, during preliminary trade negotiations with the US in Geneva in May, Beijing was expected to suspend non-tariff countermeasures, which include the export curbs. Tariffs and countermeasures would be paused for 90 days to continue negotiations.
Last Friday, US President Donald Trump said China had violated the trade truce, as Beijing has kept its export controls on seven rare earth minerals and associated products. Washington also said it would actively monitor China’s compliance with the Geneva “trade agreement” and continue engagement with its Chinese counterparts.
Chinese foreign affairs ministry’s spokesperson Jian Lin says the Geneva consensus was reached in line with the principle of “mutual respect and equal-footed consultation.”
“China has been responsibly and faithfully implementing the consensus,” he says in a press conference Tuesday. “Without any factual ground, the US falsely accuses China of violating the Geneva consensus, and has issued harmful extreme measures against China, such as new chip export controls, blocking EDA sales, and pledging to revoke Chinese students’ visas. Those actions have seriously disrupted the Geneva consensus and hurt China’s legitimate rights and interests. China firmly opposes them and has strongly protested to the US.”
Rare earth elements are essential and widely used in industries such as semiconductors, robotics, military applications, and automotive manufacturing.
Source:Kallanish
