China accelerates permits for rare earths - is the crisis banned?

China accelerates permits for rare earths - is the crisis banned?

Vienna, Österreich - China plans to process the export applications of European companies for rare earth faster. This was announced by China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao at a meeting with EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic in Paris. Wang expressed the desire to set up a “green channel” for applications that meet certain conditions in order to accelerate the exam. In return, China expects more openness to trade in high-tech products from the EU. This development follows the export controls for seven rare earths introduced in April 2025 and magnets made from them, which required elaborate proposals for export and triggered concern worldwide, especially in Europe and the USA. The EU Chamber of Commerce reported that its member companies recently received more licenses.

The general manager of the Federal Association of German Industry (BDI), Wolfgang Niedermark, warned of a possible metal crisis, similar to the energy crisis 2022. The auto industry, mechanical and plant engineering as well as energy and defense technologies are particularly affected. Access to rare earths will also be an important topic in the planned trade discussion between the USA and China on Monday in London. US President Donald Trump had announced that China would resume delivery of less frequent earth.

The importance of less frequently

rare earths are crucial for the production of smartphones, electric motors and wind turbines. These raw materials are reduced mainly in China, which is the world's largest processor rarer. These resources consist of 17 elements that are increasingly in demand because the need for rare earths will probably multiply. In order to regulate this need, the Chinese government under Prime Minister Li Qiang issued new regulations for the dismantling and use of less frequent earth that should come into force on October 1, 2024.

A central concern of these regulations is that the resources belong to the state and cannot be claimed or destroyed. Companies that dismantle, melt, separate or export rare earth must introduce a traceability system. The Chinese government determines how much broken down and how the processing is checked. These new regulations are also discussed in the context of the EU, which plans preliminary tariffs on Chinese electric cars to protect themselves from a flood of such vehicles that are considered unfair subsidized.

market and geopolitics

China promoted about 70 percent of all rare earths worldwide and thus almost had a monopoly in this sector. When processing these resources, China even kept a share of 85 percent. Germany in particular depends heavily in this area; From January to November 2022, the country imported around 66 percent of its rare earths from China. This close trade extends through industries such as the semiconductor industry, mobile phone manufacturer and electric car manufacturer that rely on these raw materials.