China to Strengthen Strategic Minerals Control After US Trade Truce

Despite the announcement of removing non-tariff countermeasures targeting the U.S., China appears to be keeping its export controls on rare earths in place.

A loader shifts soil containing rare-earth minerals, at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, on Sept. 5, 2010. AFP via Getty Images

China has announced a tightening of control over its strategic mineral resources, a move that comes days after trade talks with the United States that placed critical materials’ export in the spotlight.

In an online statement on May 14, China’s Ministry of Commerce said Beijing would strengthen control over the entire supply chain of strategic minerals, including mining, processing, transportation, and exports.

The comments were made two days after a high-level planning meeting in Changsha, a city in central China, to discuss supply chain controls on resources deemed tied to national interests.

The meeting gathered officials from ten government agencies, including the customs administration and ministries of commerce, industry, and public security, alongside local regulators from seven provinces rich in strategic mineral deposits, such as Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia.

According to the official readout, these agencies were required to “closely track the flow of strategic minerals” and “strictly prevent their illegal outflows.”

China is the world’s leading supplier of dozens of strategic minerals and holds a monopoly on the processing of rare earths, a group of 17 elements vital in many things from commercial technology like electric cars to military equipment.

In recent years, China has tightened its grip on various processed critical minerals, decisions largely viewed as a retaliatory response to Western restrictions on its access to advanced technology that often has military or dual-use applications.

In December 2024, after the United States expanded its restrictions on China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology, the regime specifically banned the shipment of several processed critical minerals to the United States. Among the targeted materials are gallium, germanium, and antimony, all of which have been designated by the Interior Department as critical to U.S. economic and national security.

While analysts considered the impact of such a ban on the U.S. supply chain may be limited, given that these metals had already been under Beijing’s export restrictions, U.S. lawmakers and analysts have viewed it as a reminder of Beijing’s capability to retaliate against Western measures, urging nations to reconsider their dependence on Chinese supplies.

In February, China’s commerce ministry imposed export controls on five rare metals crucial for defense and other industries. Although the announcement coincided with an array of trade restrictions targeting American companies and products in retaliation for Washington’s tariff hike, the Chinese regime didn’t mention the United States or any other countries by name.

On April 4, China expanded its export control list by adding seven rare earth elements. The announcement came as the Chinese authorities unveiled a sweeping retaliation package in response to President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Following the surprise deal that China reached with the United States after two days of high-level meetings in Switzerland, the joint statement released on May 12 stated that Beijing had agreed to “suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States” since April 2.

However, it remains unclear whether this applies to export restrictions concerning rare earth elements.

During a regular briefing on that day, the foreign ministry skirted a question about lifting any of these export controls.

“For anything specific regarding the meeting, I’d direct you to China’s readout and the joint statement from both sides,” Lin Jian, the ministry’s spokesperson, told reporters in Beijing.

Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, said in a post later that China’s export controls on rare earths remain in place.

On May 14, the commerce ministry released two separate statements, pausing measures that blacklisted 17 Americans and suspending restrictions against more than two dozen U.S. companies. So far, the ministry has not issued a statement indicating the lifting of restrictions on rare earth exports.

Concerns over U.S. dependence on communist China’s rare earth processing have grown in Congress.

“The Chinese Communist Party isn’t just exporting minerals, it’s exporting leverage,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told the Senate finance committee on May 14.

“By controlling the midstream choke points of global mineral processing and using that power to restrict exports of rare earth elements, Beijing is effectively turning raw materials into raw geopolitical pressure,” he told the hearing on trade in critical supply chains.