Switzerland is “in danger” in the face of the shortage of rare earth

Trump imposes a 145%punitive tax on China, Beijing reacts by blocking rare earth exports worldwide. And Switzerland suddenly finds itself at the heart of the fight for critical raw materials.

Othmar von Matt / CH Media

The White House describes as “historic” the agreement on the raw materials it has concluded with Ukraine. At the same time, US President Donald Trump eagerly reaches out to Greenland. The two countries have one thing in common: Critical raw materials, in particular rare earths. In Greenland as in Ukraine, there are important deposits of what is considered to be “gold from the future”.

The ascent to the presidency of Trump marked the start of a global struggle for raw materials. On the one hand, the American president wants the United States to obtain control of rare land deposits. On the other hand, he caused a global shortage by imposing punitive customs duties in China in the amount of 145%. As a countermeasure, China has stopped exports of rare land and products containing them. And this, to all countries, including Switzerland.

A problem for Switzerland

This stop is a problem, Because China has a quasi-monopoly on rare earths. In 2024, 70% of their extraction took place in China. And the Chinese market share is often higher with regard to products refined with rare earths. For example? The magnets, which are used in planes, wind turbines and military equipment. They must be resistant to temperature and for that, you need samarium, one of the 17 metals that are part of the rare earths.

Switzerland feels the consequences of stopping Chinese exports. “Hundreds of Swiss companies should be affected by this measure,” says Jean-Philippe Kohl, vice-director of Swissmem, the association of Tech industry. Swiss companies certainly only import small quantities of rare earths in raw form-about 100 kilograms per year-but these come mainly from China. The extent of the problem is different for refined products: Switzerland imports 174 tonnes per year.

The fact that it mainly does it via the European Union could pose an additional problem, fears Swissmem:

«Risque political climbing “

For Jean-Philippe Kohl, the situation is very fragile. He continues:

Switzerland is poorly prepared for disturbances of this type. On December 13, 2024, the Federal Council adopted a report on “the supply of Swiss mineral materials for the energy transition”. But there is nothing to read on a dramatic shortage of critical raw materials and rare earths, as it could occur with the presidency of Trump.

We can only read the following sentence:

The nonchalation of the report is incomprehensible for Swissmem.

He underlines: “We had to take the electoral promises of Donald Trump more seriously. When a possible tsunami is imminent, we must not ignore the negative scenarios-namely that other states, in particular China, react to customs duties of the United States. “

Switzerland “Gets off game”

The national councilor of the Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter center is even more critical. It was she who, in 2020, asked for a report to the Federal Council on the threat of shortage of critical raw materials and rare earths. Today, she is disillusioned. “There is a global political struggle around rare earths”, she said, “only Switzerland considers that there is no need to act. We put ourselves off and endanger our security of supply ”.

Economic circles believe that the Federal Council has a duty to be fulfilled. “As these are sovereign decisions of China, it is up to the policy to play,” says Jean-Philippe Kohl. And add:

The fact that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis went to China at the end of April and met the Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi there is an “important sign” for Swissmem. This shows, according to Jean-Philippe Kohl, that “we are not part of a block and that we want to trade with everyone and suppress obstacles”. And to recall:

What does the State Secretariat respond to the Economy to criticism that he did not take the problem sufficiently seriously? “The Seco and the offices concerned intensively looked into this theme and have drawn up an inventory of existing challenges,” he wrote. The SECO provides, among other things, to analyze and regularly update import and supply data. The collaboration between the institutions concerned must also be reinforced. “We want to increase transparency in the raw materials sector,” he concludes.

Translated and adapted from German by Léa Krejci

News in Switzerland is here

Céline Vara and her multi-lircbon journey to Oman, Lisa Mazzone and her detestation of “super-rich in Davos”: the moral of environmentalists has become inaudible.

The plane, the rich, davos. Look for the intruder! For the Greens, there is none. In their eyes, the three form a combo harmful to the planet. Two ecologists headliners gave a layer this weekend, each in its own way, on this evil triptych. It is at the time when the Davos forum is in the panade with its “lifetime president” Klaus Schwab Massé Gratis, that the president of the Greens, Lisa Mazzone, in an interview with Sunday viewtakes out the populist paraphernalia by qualifying the WEF (world Economic Forum) “Anti-democratic meeting of super-rich, where the Trump, Bolsonaro and Milei of this world are celebrated”.