EU businesses are lobbying Beijing to set up a special channel to fast-track Chinese approval of rare earth export licences for “reliable” companies, as China’s strict controls on shipments of the critical minerals threaten supply chains worldwide.
The proposal was made at a meeting between European companies and China’s ministry of commerce officials, according to three people briefed on the matter, and comes as European officials warn that their factories are at risk of shutdowns owing to the Chinese measures that were originally aimed at the US.
“Companies during the meeting proposed a clean channel — a white list,” said one European executive briefed on the meeting, which took place last week.