The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Dec. 4, edition that China is banning the export of certain strategic minerals, such as graphite, to the U.S. due to national security concerns, amid escalating trade tensions. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that this decision follows U.S. President Biden's recent restrictions on select semiconductor shipments to China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian criticized the U.S. for its "malicious suppression of China's technological progress." While the United States is the world leader in artificial intelligence and companies such as Nvidia dominate chip sales, China is a key supplier of many of the critical minerals needed for the technology. "The only way to effectively break the Chinese monopoly in the critical mineral space is to stand up and build a free-standing North American critical mineral supply chain," says U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen. Hallgarten & Co. analyst Christopher Ecclestone notes that while China's restrictions on U.S. exports of critical minerals may seem concerning, enforcing these measures will be challenging. This is mainly because critical minerals shipped from China to other countries could easily end up in the U.S.