Two weeks ago, I wrote about the defense industry’s struggles to decouple from China, particularly with respect to securing the rare-earth elements that have become integral to many military technologies. In that piece, I mentioned that China had already threatened to cut off the United States from critical resources.
Beijing is making good on that threat faster than I expected: China’s Ministry of Commerce announced Monday that it will be imposing export controls on gallium and germanium (while not technically rare-earth elements, the two metals have similar applications). Per the Wall Street Journal:
The new restrictions on gallium and germanium affect specialty metals produced and refined primarily in China, giving it leverage in some cutting-edge sectors. Neither gallium or germanium is traded in large quantities. Both nevertheless have uses important to particular industries, especially production of semiconductors that are often designed in and for use in the U.S. even if made in Taiwan and South Korea.
Read the rest of the Journal’s report here.