In a move that has implications for Ohio’s manufacturing industry, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced Wednesday that the U. S. has requested the World Trade Organization take up a dispute that China is unfairly restraining its exports on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum. 

The European Union and Japan also have requested panels on this matter today.

“These materials are key inputs in a multitude of U.S. manufacturing sectors and American-made products, including hybrid car batteries, wind turbines, energy-efficient lighting, steel, advanced electronics, automobiles, petroleum and chemicals,” Kirk said.  “It is vital that U.S. workers and manufacturers obtain the fair and equal access to raw materials like rare earths that China specifically agreed to when it joined the WTO.” 

Earlier this year, the United States won a WTO challenge against China’s export restraints on nine other industrial materials.  Kirk said China argued in that case that its export restraints could be justified as conservation or environmental protection. 

Kirk said that China’s export restraint measures on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum “appear to be part of a troubling industrial policy aimed at providing substantial competitive advantages for Chinese manufacturers at the expense of foreign manufacturers.”

He added that because of China’s position as a leading global producer of these materials, its export restraint measures give China the ability significantly to affect global supply and pricing.  The measures can provide important advantages to China’s downstream producers, to the detriment of their U.S. and other foreign counterparts, Kirk said.