China has imposed restrictions on exports of two minerals that the United States says are critical to the production of semiconductors, missile systems and solar cells, in what the Wall Street Journal described as a show of greater power to set trade rules ahead of economic talks between the rivals. For technological dominance.
Gallium and germanium, two metals, and more than 36 other metals and other commodities will be subject to unspecified export restrictions starting Aug. 1, the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing said in a statement on Monday. Its report cited protection of interests and national security, and said some future export applications would require review by the State Council, the highest government body.
The paper says industry executives see export bans on gallium and germanium as retaliation for US restrictions on chips and other products.
According to the newspaper, competition between China and the United States is increasingly marked by export restrictions designed to slow other high-tech industries.
Business complaints about such restrictions, which both sides say are designed to protect national security, emerged before the return to high-level talks between the two governments, the newspaper said.
The issue will be in sharp focus when US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits Beijing this weekend and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo makes an expected visit in the coming months.
The Wall Street Journal had no immediate comment from the U.S. Commerce Department, according to the newspaper.
And last October, the U.S. stopped exporting equipment used to produce technologically advanced semiconductors to China, replacing them with other allies like South Korea and the Netherlands, he explained.
According to the newspaper, Beijing has warned its companies to consider the national security implications of exporting to the United States, and has banned products made by Micron, America’s largest memory chips maker, from being used in critical information infrastructure companies. In China, the Americans reject Cold War-style protectionism promoted by Washington, while cautioning allies.
To make it harder for either side to act irresponsibly, the US and China are forcing both countries to produce things like semiconductors, a technology sector that is tantamount to mutually assured destruction.
The Wall Street Journal reported that US President Joe Biden’s administration is wooing manufacturers such as Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to expand in the US, but is unlikely to persuade them to return to China.
New restrictions on gallium and germanium mainly affect specialty metals produced and refined in China, influencing some cutting-edge sectors.
Although neither gallium nor germanium are traded in large quantities, both have important uses for certain industries, he explained, particularly the production of semiconductors designed in the United States that are used in the U.S. despite being made in Taiwan and the South. Korea.
The move will have an immediate ripple effect on the semiconductor industry in the US, particularly with regard to high-performance chips, the newspaper said.
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