Chinese President Visits Rare Earth Metal Producer
As the U.S. government put Huawei and its 68 affiliates on a blacklist, major parts makers such as Intel and Qualcomm, have stopped supplying components to the Chinese tech giant starting on May 17 (local time). Google also decided to cut its hardware and software business ties with Huawei.
Under these circumstances, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited a rare earth metal enterprise in Jiangxi Province, China on May 20. China accounts for 95 percent of the world's rare earth mineral production. As such, it may use its control of the global rare earth mineral supply to respond to the trade war with the United States.
According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, Xi took a tour of the rare earth metal enterprise during his visit to Jiangxi Province. The company researches, develops and sells rare earths and rare earth metals, and its products are used in wind power generation and renewable energy, automobiles, robotics and smart manufacturing.
President Xi was accompanied by Vice Premier Liu He, who is in charge of U.S.-China trade negotiations. Some experts speculated that Xi’s visit was intended to warn the United States that China has rare earth metals that the United States needs.