“In recent weeks and months China has dramatically tightened export controls over rare earths and battery materials,” she said at the Berlin Global Dialogue conference on Saturday, adding that this poses a “significant risk.”
According to Bloomberg, in her most explicit comments since China’s announcement earlier this month of plans to restrict rare earth exports, von der Leyen said that in the short term, Brussels was focusing on finding solutions with our Chinese counterparts.
“But we are ready to use all of the instruments in our toolbox to respond if needed. And we will work with our G-7 partners on a coordinated response,” she added.
Her remarks come days after French President Emmanuel Macron told European Union leaders to consider using the so-called anti-coercion instrument — the bloc’s most powerful trade tool — against China if they aren’t able to find a resolution to Beijing’s planned export controls on critical raw materials.
The tool, known as ACI, has never been used. It was designed primarily as a deterrent, and if needed, to respond to deliberate coercive actions from third countries that use trade measures as a means to pressure the policy choices of the EU or its members.
MNA
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