A Free Pass for China
After the WTO declared China’s rare-earth policies to be in violation of global trade rules...
Apr 2, 2014
After the WTO declared China’s rare-earth policies to be in violation of global trade rules...
Mar 26, 2014
In 2010, China, then home to 40% of the world’s proven rare-earth reserves, accounted for...
Jan 9, 2014
While China is home to around 25% of the world’s proven reserves of rare-earth elements...
Mar 15, 2013
China’s appetite for raw materials has become a source of concern from Afghanistan and Mongolia to Peru and Zambia. Now, these tensions appear to have spread to Greenland, where the prospect of Chinese encroachment...
Sep 10, 2012
A New York Times article on the rush for Afghanistan’s estimated trillion-dollar natural resources includes details of Chinese companies’ involvement. Already this summer, the China National Petroleum Corporation, in...
Jul 24, 2012
After the request by the European Union, Japan, and the United States for the World Trade Organization to examine China’s rare-earth industry, the WTO will probe into China’s rare-earth policies, from AFP:The decision was taken...
Jun 21, 2012
China’s State Council on Wednesday issued its first white paper on the controversial rare-earth metal sector, hailing its developmental achievements but also acknowledging the environmental consequences of and promising...
Apr 25, 2012
Export quotas on China’s rare earth minerals were called into question last month at the WTO, not the first time China has been multilaterally confronted over this issue. The Wall Street Journal reports on what may be...
Apr 12, 2012
As the US, EU and Japan pursue a WTO case against China for allegedly abusing its near monopoly over rare earth supplies, China Daily argues that tightening control is a necessary environmental protection measure, not an...
Apr 10, 2012
Outsourced pollution is a convenient effect of outsourced manufacturing. A paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last year found that once it was taken into account, developed countries’ apparent 2%...
Mar 13, 2012
As China tries to get a firm grasp on its control of rare earth metals, the EU, Japan, and the US have rallied together to file a case against China at the WTO. China produces a majority of the 17 rare earth metals that are...
Sep 15, 2011
The ongoing saga of China’s control over rare earth metals is impacting the cost of a number of high-tech goods that use the minerals in manufacturing, including environmentally-friendly compact fluorescent light bulbs,...
Aug 24, 2011
China’s policy on rare earth minerals, used in the manufacturing of numerous high-tech goods including cell phones and hybrid cars, has been under scrutiny over the past year as the country holds a near monopoly on the...
Aug 19, 2011
On Al Jazeera, Pepe Escobar writes about China’s domination of the market for rare earth elements, and how the fight for the precious resource will impact global foreign policy in coming years: Oil wars? Water wars? Sure...
Jul 5, 2011
The discovery of massive rare earth deposits on the Pacific floor could, claims Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, “end China’s virtual monopoly on the metals”. From The Wall Street Journal: The Japanese team found...
May 19, 2011
China is making some changes to its rare earth industry, which has been under attack by trade partners who claim the country is maintaining a global monopoly on the valuable resource. From MarketWatch: China plans to consolidate...
Apr 27, 2011
New research shows that Kyoto emission reductions by developing countries evaporate when outsourced manufacturing is factored in, with China hosting three quarters of the world’s outsourced emissions. From The Guardian:...
Mar 15, 2011
Despite the fact that China now controls about 95% of global supply of rare earth elements, the country may need to import the minerals to meet rising domestic demand, Bloomberg reports: “China may eventually need to import the...