On Tuesday, the United States, European Union, and Japan formally requested that the World Trade Organization (WTO) settle a dispute over Beijing, China's raw material exports of various products, including rare earth minerals, tungsten and molybdenum. The two latter products are important raw materials in the steelmaking process. This is the first joint case filed by the US, EU and Japan Tuesday's settlement request is the initial step toward filing a full trade case.
China produces about 97 percent of the world's total about of the 17 rare earth metals, which are commonly used in many electronics such as cellular phones and disk drives, in addition to steel-intensive products such as wind turbines.