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Rare Earths and the WTO: Tougher case than it looks

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Lettre du Centre Asie
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Rare Earths and the WTO: Tougher case than it looks
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Deepening their partnership, Ifri and the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS) are launching a series of op-eds, written both by Ifri and CIGS experts. This new series aims at providing the European and Asian public with original and different visions on the rapidly evolving international affairs.

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The European Union, the United States and Japan have finally decided to take their case on China’s rare earth export policies to the WTO. China stands accused of violating the terms of its WTO accession agreement by limiting exports of rare earths and driving an artificial wedge between prices in China and prices abroad – in essence using its resource advantage to shelter nascent high-tech industries and even to coerce the transfer of foreign expertise. Beijing, meanwhile, argues that this is a purely internal matter motivated by the need to impose environmental restrictions on a highly polluting industry. Uncontrolled production practices have indeed wrought havoc on local environments and human health in rare earth producing regions. The Chinese authorities argue that export permits and higher prices for rare earths are needed to allow industries to adapt to higher production standards – export tariffs and quotas being a useful tool in China’s eye.

 

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Rare Earths and the WTO: Tougher case than it looks

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Author(s)
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John SEAMAN

John SEAMAN

Intitulé du poste

Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri

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Asia Map
Center for Asian Studies
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Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.

The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands. 

The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.

The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.

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Sri Lanka’s NPP Government. From System Change to Structural Compliance

Date de publication
24 September 2025
Accroche

In September 2024, a relative outsider to Sri Lanka’s two-party-dominated political system, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, won the presidential elections. The anti-establishment, populist movement he represented, the National People’s Power (NPP), went on to receive an overwhelming mandate in the November 2024 general elections, winning 159 seats in a 225-member parliament.

Harindra B. DASSANAYAKE Rajni GAMAGE
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Japan Under Trump: Alliance Strains, the Push for Autonomy and Essential Partnerships

Date de publication
19 September 2025
Accroche

Japan is under pressure from the United States (US) on punitive tariffs and demands for increased defence spending. This has sparked deep concern over US credibility and triggered growing domestic calls for greater autonomy.

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Quest for Strategic Autonomy? Europe Grapples with the US - China Rivalry

Date de publication
26 June 2025
Accroche

Building on the 2020 European Think Tank Network on China (ETNC) report, which assessed Europe’s positioning amid the strategic rivalry between the United States and China, this edition re-examines the geopolitical landscape in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine and Donald Trump’s return to the White House. This report features 22 national chapters and one dedicated to the EU, analysing the evolution of Europe’s relations with Washington and Beijing, the range of approaches to dealing the US-China rivalry and how these are expected to evolve. 

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Céline Pajon

France seeks third way between US and China in Southeast Asia

Date de publication
05 June 2025
Accroche

The French leader sent a message of partnership but gave few concrete details on sustained engagement plans.

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Rare Earths and the WTO: Tougher case than it looks

Rare Earths and the WTO: Tougher case than it looks