On Tuesday, China's Commerce Ministry announced that it was banning the export of certain minerals and metals to the United States.

The products, such as gallium, germanium and antimony, are so-called dual-use items, which can be used in the production of semiconductors and also for a wide range of military and technological applications.

China's move is a direct response to export controls that the United States placed on Beijing on Monday. The US and Chinese actions are the latest exchanges in the countries' rivalry, with much of the recent focus being around trade, the production of military technology and the development of artificial intelligence.

"It's a hardening and a defensiveness on both the Chinese and the United States side, and it's not a new phenomenon for either country," Claire Reade, a senior counsel with Washington, DC, legal firm Arnold & Porter and an expert in US-China trade relations, told DW.

Reade said the perception had become widespread in China that the United States is trying to halt the country's legitimate development, whereas the US sees it as a national security issue to prevent China from gaining supremacy in certain areas.

The Commerce Ministry said its decision to strengthen export controls on dual-use items to the United........

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