China has imposed restrictions on the global sales of valuable elements used in cell phones and electric vehicles. These minerals are 90% present in China.

The new tax decisions by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, have been met with criticism from many countries.

In a statement from China, which is one of the countries heavily taxed, it was announced that 7 categories of medium and heavy rare metals containing samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, yttrium, and alloys will be placed on the export control list starting from April 4th. In this context, Chinese suppliers will only be able to export these rare earth elements with government permission. Furthermore, Chinese customs officials may confiscate shipments suspected to contain restricted elements. UTILIZED IN A WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCTS The elements in question, which China supplies a significant portion of the global demand, are used in a wide range of products from cell phones to electric vehicles, weapon systems to high-performance motors, nuclear reactors to electronic and optical equipment, spacecraft to medical imaging machines, batteries and fuel cells to semiconductors and superconductors. 90% ARE LOCATED IN CHINA China, which produces approximately 90% of the 17 groups of rare earth elements, has once again demonstrated its intention to turn its global dominance in this field into an economic advantage through export restrictions. The Beijing administration had prohibited exports of rare earth elements such as gallium, germanium, and antimony, widely used in defense and weapon systems, to the USA in response to the chip restrictions on December 3, 2024, and had also imposed restrictions on the export of graphite and derivatives widely used in battery and fuel cell production and in the defense and aerospace sectors. INCREASE IN “RECIPROCAL TARIFFS” FROM THE US US President Donald Trump had announced that he would impose an additional 34% customs tariff on China within the scope of “reciprocal tariffs.” The Washington administration had announced that in addition to a 10% base tariff on China, a total of 34% extra customs tariff, including 24% “reciprocal tariff,” would be imposed. With the new tariff increases, the minimum customs tariff applied by the US to products imported from China had reached up to 54%. The Beijing administration had announced that it would apply an additional tariff equal to the 34% tariff increase imposed by the US under the “reciprocal tariffs” and had also declared sanctions against US companies.