The Chinese Ministry of Commerce also announced that controls on graphite will be strengthened.

China has announced a total ban on exports to the United States of "dual-use" minerals and metals used in the manufacture of semiconductors but which also have military applications, in what is a response by Beijing to restrictions imposed by Washington.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has announced that it will no longer allow sales of gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials to the US, while controls on graphite will be tightened.

"The US has generalised the concept of national security and has politicised and militarised economic, commercial and technological issues," a ministry spokesman said in a statement.

"The US has abused export control measures and unjustifiably restricted the export of certain products to China," he added, referring to the White House's restrictions on the sale of high-performance memory chips manufactured in the United States to China.

A study published by the United States Geological Survey at the end of last November already quantified the cost of the ban on gallium and germanium alone at US$3.4 billion for the American economy.

In any case, according to Bloomberg , there have been no sales of gallium or germanium from China so far this year, which would indicate that American companies have found alternative sources or are depleting their stocks of the mineral. The US accounts for around 10% of antimony exports.