China stockpiles critical minerals for electric cars

The Beijing government has set limits on trade in rare earths, which are necessary for clean energy.

There are metals on which the world’s global communications depend. To be clear: without them, there would be no internet. That alone makes them considered strategic, but if international trade tensions and a dominant mining industry on a global scale are added to the equation, the recipe for international conflict is served. After China and the US clashed with tariffs of up to 145%, Beijing added seven minerals to its list of controlled exports to the 17 accepted rare earths, which will make them require a new classification, which could take months to approve and, until then, reduce their international trade to a minimum. This already happened at the end of last year with gallium, germanium and antimony, key elements in the technology industries, especially in semiconductors. The latest elements to be classified by China are samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium. Except for the last two, these belong to the lanthanide family – atomic numbers from 57 to 71 on the periodic table – and have critical applications when it comes to building screens, medical and defense equipment, as well as powerful magnets, which are the basis of electric car motors and wind generators.

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