The dominance of the global supply chain in China begins to hurt the car manufacturer.
On April 4, the country cut off the export of the mineral class called “heavy elements of rare lands” and sent the global automotive industry to panic.
Earthly earthly ones are class 17 elements which became necessary in all applications – from fighters and submarines to smartphones and devices. You can Even find them in sports equipment, such as tennis rackets and baseball bats.
Of course, they are also necessary for a modern car. Gas combustion cars use them to filter pollution by a catalytic vehicle converter. Electric vehicles use them in engines and batteries.
“Rare lands are really critical and not only in the case of electric vehicles,” said Gracelin Bascarn, director of the Mineral Critical Safety Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They are in your seat belt, your steering wheels, various parts of electrical components. You are not going to produce a car without rare lands.”
Rare herbs are divided into subsequent categories, based on their atomic mass. Light rare lands are easier to obtain. This is medium and heavy, which China completely monopolized. China controls about 70% of the world mines of rare lands. But where it really dominates is processing.
The name “rare lands” is a bit misleading – the elements themselves are not so rare. What makes them “rare” is a complex and difficult process of separating them from the rock in which they are built and from each other. China controls about 90% of the global processing of rare lands and has a total monopoly on the processing of heavy rare lands.
Bascarus said that from at least 2023 China tightens their hug on several key critical minerals.
Despite this, export restrictions shocked the automotive world on April 4.
“It came out from nowhere,” said Dan Hearsch, managing director at Alixpartners. “Nobody had time to react to it. I mean that in a few weeks all the material in the pipeline was released.”
European car manufacturers Close the factories. Ferry I had to idle production His popular SUV -Explorer.
This month, China began to allow access to companies providing parts to some car manufacturers. And this week, the Trump administration said Has reached an agreement on the acceleration of shipments of rare and magnetic lands to the USA
Still, it is not clear how durable these offers will be.
“We're not out of the forest yet,” said Baskan. “There is a high volatility in US-china relations between tariffs and mineral restrictions. We have seen how China increases restrictions for two years. Earthly earthlys are only the latest.”
There are long -term solutions, if China reduces access again: for example recycling, developing other sources and innovations. This crisis can even encourage the industry to take action that reduces dependence on China.
But this crisis of rare lands is the latest series of interference in deliveries over the past few years. Hearsch said he would probably get worse.
“Today it's rare lands,” said Hearsch. “But tomorrow maybe there will be something different, which we may not think about that maybe not even so valuable and suddenly.”
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