EU and China to Hold Urgent Talks on Rare Earth Export Controls

The Chinese restrictions have been called "unjustified and harmful" by the EU's trade chief Maros Sefcovic, who says they affect European companies economically and have forced some of them to stop their production.

To find "solutions" to the problem, Sefcovic has invited representatives from China to Brussels for a meeting within "the coming days".

Rare earth metals are crucial for the manufacture of, among other things, smartphones, electric cars, military equipment and renewable energy technology.

China, which dominates the global production and processing of these elements, announced earlier in October new export controls on technology used for extraction and processing.