China isn’t getting rid of its controls over rare earths, despite trade truce with US

Despite a 90-day truce in its trade war with the United States, China appears to be maintaining tight control over its rare earth exports – preserving a key source of leverage in future negotiations amid intensifying strategic rivalry with Washington.

Despite a 90-day truce in its trade war with the United States, China appears to be maintaining tight control over its rare earth exports – preserving a key source of leverage in future negotiations amid intensifying strategic rivalry with Washington. As part of last week’s trade agreement in Geneva to temporarily roll back tariffs, China pledged to suspend or remove the “non-tariff” countermeasures it imposed on the US since April 2. That has left businesses scrambling to find out whether that promise applies to China’s export controls on seven rare earth minerals and associated products, which were imposed on April 4 as part of its retaliation against US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on Chinese goods. Magnets made of these heavy rare earth elements are an essential part of everything from iPhones and electric vehicles to big-ticket weapons like F-35 fighter jets and missile systems. Yet their supply is completely dominated by China. Fresh off the plane from the trade talks in Geneva last week, US trade representative Jamieson Greer sought to ease concerns surrounding this potential vulnerability. In a Fox News interview, he answered affirmatively when asked whether China had agreed to lift its export restrictions on rare earths as part of the truce. “Yep, the Chinese have agreed to remove those countermeasures,” Greer said. “If they don’t do those things, we’re going to be back in a different situation. But I expect they’ll remove them.”