East China's Shandong Province established a rare-earth catalyst institute which aims to tackle the bottleneck in catalyst technology as China prepares to weaponize its rare earths in an escalating US trade war on China.

A research institute was established in Dongying, East China's Shandong Province. The institute is devoted to studying catalysts used in rare earths application, a process that Chinese companies still have not technologically mastered in key areas, and is seen as a bottleneck. 

The national institute will help break the foreign monopoly in patents and technology blockade, as well as help the Chinese tech sector reach new heights in future industries, according to a statement on the Dongying government website. 

The institute will focus its resources on study of pipe tail waste gas cleansing, a catalyst used in new-energy applications.

The Association of China Rare Earth Industry indicated the necessity for Chinese rare earth exporters to proceed with more caution after the Trump administration announced the addition of more tariffs on Chinese imports on August 1.