China, the world’s top processor of rare earths, banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets on Thursday, adding it to a ban already in place on technology to extract and separate the critical materials, reports Reuters. Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for use in electric vehicles, wind turbines and electronics.
“This should be a clarion call that dependence on China in any part of the value chain is not sustainable,” said Nathan Picarsic, co-founder of the geopolitical consulting firm Horizon Advisory.
China’s commerce ministry sought public opinion last December on the potential move to add the technology to prepare smarium-cobalt magnets, neodymium-iron-boron magnets and cerium magnets to its “Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export.”