In particular, this concerns gallium and germanium, which are essential for the manufacture of semiconductors, antimony, which is used in explosives, along with tungsten and graphite, which are indispensable for armor-piercing ammunition and nuclear reactors or batteries, respectively. Although they are not classified as rare earths, these materials play a strategic role in many industrial sectors.
On Wednesday, China already announced a one-year extension of the partial suspension of tariffs on certain US products, maintaining them at 10%. In addition, China has said that it will waive the customs surcharges imposed since March on soybeans and other US agricultural products. These measures should directly relieve part of Donald Trump's electoral base.
This détente follows on from the two leaders' meeting in South Korea at the end of October. After this exchange, they concluded a one-year, renewable agreement on exports of rare earth-related technologies. Donald Trump said, "There is absolutely no blockage on rare earths, I hope that term will disappear from our vocabulary for a while." There is indeed a high chance that we will be talking about this again "in a while."
