China has warned it could ban the export of 'rare earth' minerals used in hospital scanners and nuclear power plants in the latest escalation of its trade war with the US.

Beijing said it is 'seriously considering' restricting exports to the United States of 17 chemical elements, the editor in chief of China's Global Times said on Tuesday.

The 17 elements are used in MRI scanners and computer memory chips among other things - and China claims it has the only known reserves of the raw materials in the world.

A senior official from China's National Development and Reform Commission told the Xinhua news agency on Tuesday that Beijing will give domestic demand for rare earths priority, but will meet reasonable demand from other countries.

Trade war: Trump, who returned from Japan with the first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday afternoon, is facing a new threat from China in their escalating tensions

President Xi Jinping visited a rare earth company in southern China last week, state media reported, lifting the shares of producers on speculation that this indicated Beijing was considering using the chemicals in the U.S. trade war.

Rising trade tensions have led to concerns that Beijing will use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage in the trade war between the United States and China.

While the official at China's national planning body did not directly answer whether Beijing would restrict rare earth exports to the United States, Global Times Editor-in-chief Hu Xijin wrote on Twitter: 'Based on what I know, China is seriously considering restricting rare earth exports to the U.S. China may also take other countermeasures in the future.'

Although the tabloid Global Times is not one of China's official media, it is widely read and is published by the ruling Communist Party's People's Party newspaper.

President Xi Jinping visited a rare earth company in southern China last week, state media reported, lifting the shares of producers on speculation that this indicated Beijing was considering using the chemicals in the U.S. trade war.

China accounted for 80% of rare earth imports between 2014 and 2017 by the United States, which has excluded them from recent tariffs along with some other critical Chinese minerals.

Beijing, however, has raised tariffs on imports of U.S. rare earth metal ores from 10% to 25% from June 1, making it less economical to process the material in China.

RARE EARTH ELEMENTS: WHAT ARE THEY AND WHAT DO THEY DO? There are 17 'rare earth' minerals. They are actually fairly abundant, but difficult to extract - and when they are mined, they are valuable for their uses in some of the advances which the modern world depends on, including the making of fiber-optic cables, lasers, nuclear reactors, and X-ray machines. Here are the minerals - and some of their uses Scandium. Found in aerospace alloys and cars' xenon headlamps Yttrium. Used in energy-efficient lightbulbs, spark plugs and cancer treatments Lanthanum. Found in camera lenses, battery electrodes, and catalysts used in oil refineries Cerium. Used in self-cleaning ovens and industrial polishers Praseodymium. Used in lasers and cigarette lighters Neodymium. Used in electric motors for electric cars, hi-tech capacitors Promethium. Found in luminous paint Samarium. Used in the control rods of nuclear reactors, lasers and atomic clocks Europium. Used in fluorescent lamps, MRI scanners Gadolinium. Found in computer memory chips, steel, X-ray machines Terbium. Used in sonar systems on navy vessels, fuel cells on hi-tech cars Dysprosium. Used in hard disk drives and lasers Holmium. Used in mass spectrometers by hospitals and forensic scientists Erbium. Used in catalysts for the chemicals industry and in batteries designed to store power for the electrical grid Thulium. Found in portable X-ray machines and lasers Ytterbium. Used in stainless steel, thyroid cancer treatment and earthquake monitoring Lutetium. Used in LED lightbulbs, oil refining and medical PET scans Advertisement

'Don't say we didn't warn you!' Chinese state newspaper uses a code word for WAR to threaten the U.S. as it hints a rare earths ban may well happen if Washington refuses to back down

A Chinese state-run newspaper has warned the U.S. not to underestimate Beijing's capabilities with its resources of rare earth minerals during a trade war between the two countries.

People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, hinted serious consequences to the Trump Administration using a diplomatic term usually reserved by Beijing to signal the start of an armed warfare.

'Don't say we didn't warn you!' The newspaper said in a commentary today as it commented on the possibility of China suspending its exports of rare earths to the U.S.

China is considering banning rare earths being exported to the U.S., a move which would hit the cost of everything from LED lightbulbs to phones. Pictured are samples of rare earth minerals (from left) Cerium Oxide, Bastnasite, Neodymium oxide and Lanthanum Carbonate

China is by far the world's largest exporter of rare earth minerals, producing more than 95 per cent of the chemical elements used worldwide, or 120,000 tonnes every year

The set phrase is often used by Chinese Communist Party leaders during or in the lead up to military conflicts.

It was famously used by Chairman Mao in 1949 during the Chinese civil war as he warned his enemies to leave Beiping, now known as Beijing, and surrender to the Community Party.

It also appeared in People's Daily columns in 1962 before China went to war with India over a disputed Himalayan border region as well as before the brief Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979.

Last April, China's Xinhua News Agency also used the phrase to caution Washington after it announced plans for imposing tariffs on about 1,300 Chinese products following an investigation into the Chinese foreign trade policies.

'Anyone who is familiar with Chinese diplomacy would know the weight of this sentence,' a commentary at the time said.

Rising trade tensions have led to concerns that Beijing will use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage in the trade war between the United States and China.

Trade war: Trump, who returned from Japan with the first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday afternoon, is facing a new threat from China in their escalating tensions

President Xi Jinping visited a rare earth company in southern China last week, state media reported, lifting the shares of producers on speculation that this indicated Beijing was considering using the chemicals in the U.S. trade war

Beijing is 'seriously considering' restricting exports to the United States of rare earths, 17 chemical elements used in high-tech consumer electronics and military equipment, the editor in chief of China's Global Times said yesterday.

The latest People's Daily column hinted that China may well use the natural resources to pressure Donald Trump in the trade war.

'Will rare earths become China's counter weapon against the unreasonable crackdown from the U.S.? The answer is not profound,' it said.

The article then went on: 'American companies have particularly high demand for rare earth products.

'At present, some people from the U.S. side are indeed fantasising about obtaining resources independently, but it's unarguable that the U.S. depends highly on the global supply chain.'

The newspaper also stressed that China would prioritise its domestic demand on rare earth elements, which it billed as the 'vitamin for industries'.

Rising trade tensions have led to concerns that Beijing will use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage. People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's Communist Party, today hinted that a rare earths ban may happen if Washington refuses to back down

China has two major rare earth bases, Bayan Obo in the north and Ganzhou in the south

'Without doubt, the U.S. wants to use the products made with the rare earths imported from China to suppress China's development. Chinese people must not agree,' it continued.

Four years earlier, Japanese industry sources said China temporarily cut off exports to Japan in 2010 when a territorial row flared between the Asian rivals, charges that Beijing denied.

China is the world's largest exporter of rare earths, producing more than 95 per cent of the chemical elements used worldwide, or 120,000 tonnes a year.

It accounted for 80 per cent of rare earth imports between 2014 and 2017 by the United States, which has excluded them from recent tariffs along with some other critical Chinese minerals.

Beijing, however, has raised tariffs on imports of U.S. rare earth metal ores from 10 per cent to 25 per cent from June 1, making it less economical to process the material in China.