‘Unnecessary panic’: China rebukes US officials’ comments on rare earths

Beijing on Thursday rebutted Washington’s characterisation of its recent rare earth export control measures as an action taken “against the world”, stressing it grants approval to compliant applications and is taking steps to expedite the review process, including the potential establishment of a green channel.

Claims the policy will disrupt global supply chains “severely” distort and exaggerate China’s intent, “deliberately causing unnecessary misunderstanding and panic”, the Ministry of Commerce said in a press conference on Thursday.

The remarks came a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action on rare earths has created a “China versus the world” divide and made Beijing an “unreliable partner” at a press conference in Washington, heating up a war of words running parallel to a protracted trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

A flurry of activity in recent weeks from both sides, most notably a widening of Beijing’s export controls related to rare earth elements – itself a response to the expansion of a US trade blacklist – and a subsequent threat from US President Donald Trump of an additional 100 per cent in tariffs on Chinese imports, has exacerbated the countries’ already strained ties.

More complications arose on Tuesday, when China and the United States began implementing new port fee structures on each other’s ships and Trump warned he was considering a halt to imports of Chinese cooking oil.

At Thursday’s Ministry of Commerce press conference, spokeswoman He Yongqian said Washington’s extraterritorial actions intended to prompt “global suppression of China” are at fault, particularly US restrictions on the semiconductor trade.

“The US claims are a case of projecting their own actions onto others. The stability and security of global supply chains require the collective efforts of all countries, including the US.”

South China Morning Post