US says China 'deferred' call after expanding rare earth export control

US trade representative Jamison Greer said on Sunday that the United States is reaching out to China to schedule a phone call after an announcement that it is expanding its rare earth export control, but Beijing postponed the action. “I can tell you that we were not notified, and quickly, as soon as we found out from public sources, we reached out to the Chinese to have a phone call, and they postponed,” Greer told Fox News about the ‘Sunday briefing’ program. The trade representative also called China’s move ‘a power grab’, Reuters reported on Sunday. What was China’s move? China tightened its rare earth export controls on Thursday, which expanded restrictions on processing technology and clearly set out the intention to limit exports to foreign defense and semiconductor manufacturers. The new measures, announced by the Ministry of Trade, are dramatically raising China’s bargaining power in ongoing trade conversations with the United States. The tightening comes a few weeks before a scheduled meeting face to face between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea. As the world’s dominant producer, China produces more than 90% of the world’s processed rare earth and rare earth magnets. The 17 rare earth elements are important materials in a wide range of high-tech products, including electric vehicles, aircraft cars and military radars. Beijing, which mimics the rules that limit the export of semiconductor -related products, is now expanding its export control to foreign enterprises using Chinese rare earth equipment or material, Reuters said in a news release. Furthermore, equipment used to regain rare earth will now need a license to execute, and join a long list of limited processing technologies. The new extraterritorial rules begin on December 1, while the rest begins immediately. How did the US respond? US President Donald Trump responded by clapping Beijing with an additional rate of 100 percent, in addition to the existing 30 percent duties, from November 1 or earlier. In addition, the Trump administration will impose export control on ‘any critical software’ of US firms. Trump said the new rates are a response to China’s new restrictions on rare earth elements. The US and China previously had a tariff -driven trade war, with rates reaching 145% on US imports and 125% on Chinese imports. Negotiations later reduced the rates to 30% and 10% respectively, but tension remains, especially over rare earth, and advanced chips, Mint reported earlier.