EU welcomes rare earth control pause as US-China deal overshadows Brussels talks

The European Union welcomed China’s suspension of expanded rare earth restrictions imposed last month, even as crisis talks in Brussels on Friday appeared to yield no relief for European firms still constrained by the original export controls.

After a full day of talks in the Belgian capital, the European Commission described the pause in controls – announced following US-China talks in South Korea on Thursday – as an “appropriate and responsible step in the context of ensuring stable global trade flows in a critically important area”.

Commission spokesman Olof Gill said on Saturday that the sides had “discussed how to maintain supply chain stability in relation to rare earths and committed to further engage on licensing facilitation measures, including general licences”.

But with a string of breakthroughs from Thursday’s summit between Chinese and US leaders already shaping the global trade landscape and Europe’s place in it, the Brussels talks appeared little more than a sideshow.

Earlier on Saturday, Beijing announced that it would consider removing export controls on the Netherlands-based semiconductor maker Nexperia. The controls were imposed after the Dutch government effectively seized control of the Chinese-owned company on September 30.

Media reports, meanwhile, suggested that the White House was preparing to announce that the Dutch arm of Nexperia would resume sending chips to its Chinese processing and testing facility in Dongguan. The move would be welcomed by the global automotive industry, which warned of production shutdowns if supplies remained halted.

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