Metals of a crucial importance for clean energy are entrained in trade war in the US and China

This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of Climate office Cooperation.

In the summer of 2023, Vasilios Tsanos, Vice President of Corporate Development of Neo performance materialsHe started receiving calls from civil servants on both sides of the Atlantic. In the world of industrial materials production, Neo is best known for making rare earth magnets used in everything from home appliances to electric vehicles. But these calls were not for rare land. They were something much more rare: metal gallium.

Neo recycles a Few dozens of tonnes From Galius with high purity annually, mostly from scrap for the production of semiconductors, in a factory in Ontario, Canada. In North America, this is the only industrial manufacturer of metal that is used not only in chips but also in clean energy technologies and military equipment.

China, the world’s leading producer so far, had just declared New Gallium Export Control, apparently in response To report that the United States government is considering restrictions on the sale of advanced semiconductors in China.

Suddenly people wanted to talk to Neo. “We talked to almost everyone” who is interested in Galius’ production outside China, Tsastos told GRIST.

Ever since Coianos began to receive these calls, the tension on the 31st element of the periodic table – as well as the 32nd germanium, also used in many advanced technologies – escalates. In December, China Prohibited export of both metals to the United States after the decision of the Biden Administration Additionally limit your chip exports to the USS

Now, several companies operating in the US and Canada are considering expanding the production of rare metals to help demand the US. While Canadian critical minerals manufacturers can be stuck in a new geopolitically-tun-ta if Trump passes with his threat to imposing tariffsUS metal manufacturers can see support from the new administration, which has called for prioritization of federal funding for critical mineral projects in Day 1 Executive OrderS Beyond the US and Canada, industry observers say the ban on China’s exports is nourishing global interest When making critical mineral supply chains, no country has suffocation over materials that vital to the high-tech, purely energy future.

“This last round of export bans moisture a lot of wind on the canvas of critical efforts on the mineral supply chain, not only in the US but also globally,” ” Seaver Wang From the driving institute, a research center focused on the technological solutions of environmental problems, told GRIST.

Gallium and Germanium are not exactly the names of the household. But they are in products that are indispensable to modern life-and society without fossil fuels. With its impressive electrical properties, Galius is used semiconductor chips which make the way in everything from mobile phones to electricity converters into electric vehicles to LED lighting displays. Metal is also used in the production of rare earth magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines, in thin -layer solar cells, and sometimes in commercial popular silicone solar photovoltaic cells, where it can help increase productivity and prolonged life.