BRUSSELS, Oct 24 — European Union (EU) and Chinese officials will meet in Brussels next week to smooth trade tensions, notably China's expansion of controls on rare-earth exports that threaten to damage important EU manufacturing sectors like the automotive industry.
In a two-hour video call on Tuesday, European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao agreed that Brussels will host Chinese officials for talks.
On Friday, the European Commission said that there will be a set of in-person and virtual meetings next week under the 'Export Control Dialogue'. Neither Šefčovič nor Wang are due to attend.
During their call this week, both raised a variety of issues that are exacerbating trade tensions, including rare earths, EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, and the Dutch seizure of China-owned computer chipmaker Nexperia.
The 17 rare earths, of which 12 are subject to export restrictions, are vital to products ranging from electric vehicles to aircraft engines and military radars. China produces around 90 per cent of the world's processed rare-earth metals and rare-earth magnets.
China has grievances with the EU, but the bloc has been partly caught in the crossfire between Washington and Beijing.
Existing export controls since April caused shortages around the world before a series of deals with Europe and the United States eased the supply crunch.
Still, the Commission says that of 2,000 priority applications from EU companies for export licences, only just over half have been adequately processed.
