“If it’s critical supplies, you have to have three different suppliers to make sure that you cannot be punished because of a political reason or there might be some kind of industrial problem or something,” said Šefčovič. “It’s a collective mindset.”
EU leaders plan to discuss how to tackle China’s industrial overcapacity and subsidized exports during a June 18–19 summit — with the EU executive expected to take forward the leaders’ guidance. Šefčovič will also meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao at the end of the month in Brussels.
“Recent industrial cases, in particular supplies of chips and rare earths, have reinforced my conviction that a step change is necessary,” Šefčovič said. “We understand the urgency for critical minerals, but every high-risk sector must be weaned off single-supplier dependence.”
The European Union’s vulnerability was exposed last year when Beijing imposed export controls in strategic sectors.
China imposed restrictions on rare-earth magnet exports in October in a tariff dispute with the United States. It also halted shipments from Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia after the Dutch government took control of its local operations, disrupting supplies of critical chips to European carmakers.
The EU, which relies on China for over 90 percent of its rare earth supplies, has since teamed up with Washington and other nations in search of alternative sources of supply.