China, the world’s biggest producer of the minerals gallium and germanium, is introducing export restrictions that will apply from next month. Chinese officials have said they will block exports of two key metals essential to the transition to a ‘green economy’.
In particular, the European Union depends on China for 71% of its gallium and 45% of its germanium, a truly asymmetric dependency. Beijing’s decision to restrict exports of minerals key to the semiconductor, telecoms and electronics industries will hit key EU sectors and slow the European Union’s efforts to decarbonise its economy.
China’s strategic move highlights the limits of the Union’s ability to move supply chains beyond the reach of politicians in Beijing. The move comes weeks after Brussels unveiled a new economic security strategy that seeks to monitor the export of critical technologies and could curb investment outflows in the name of European national security. The proposal is part of a growing push within the Union to strengthen security tools as countries like China and Russia increasingly use trade and control of critical supply lines to achieve political and even military goals.
The reality is that it will take the West at least a decade to free itself from the risk associated with the supply of critical mineral resources from China. We are currently witnessing a ‘game on the great global chessboard’, the implications of which are profoundly affecting the modern Western world and the entire European Union, including Switzerland.
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