China’s export controls are spilling over into products beyond the rare earths and magnets officially identified by Beijing, threatening broader supply chain disruption and undermining US claims that a new trade deal had resolved delays to shipments.
Beijing, which dominates global supply of critical minerals, began requiring licences for exports of seven rare earth metals and related magnet materials in April in retaliation for Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports.
On June 10, the US said it had agreed with China that rare earth shipments should be expedited, reviving a 90-day trade truce on their tariff war reached the previous month in Geneva.