Critical metals are expected to be on U.S. officials’ agenda when they meet their Chinese counterparts in London on June 9.
China has approved a number of licenses for rare earths export applications, its commerce ministry said on June 7—a day before trade negotiations between Chinese and U.S. officials in which the critical metals are expected to be top of the agenda.
The Chinese authorities “noticed that with the development of robots, new energy vehicles, and other industries, the demand for medium and heavy rare earths in the civilian field continues to rise in all countries,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in an online statement late on June 7.
After assessing applications for export licenses related to rare earth items, “China has approved a certain number of qualified applications in line with the law,” the ministry’s spokesperson said.
It didn’t specify which countries or industries received these licenses.
Rare earths, a group of 17 metals used in everything from smartphones and medical imaging techniques to military equipment, has come under greater spotlight amid the trade tensions between China and the West.
China dominates the global rare earths supply chain, accounting for 70 percent of mining and 90 percent of processing capability, according to a 2023 report by Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
In April, amid its escalating tensions with Washington over tariffs, the regime’s commerce ministry added seven rare earths elements—dysprosium, gadolinium, lutetium, samarium, scandium, terbium, and yttrium—to its export control list. Under those regulations, companies must obtain special licenses for each shipment and specify the intended uses of these materials by their overseas clients. Such control measures have led to disruptions in the auto industry, forcing some European carmakers to halt production lines temporarily.
While China and the United States reached a 90-day trade truce following the high-level meetings in Geneva in May, there had been little indication that the restrictions on rare earths elements have been lifted. Instead, Beijing later ordered a strengthening of control over the entire supply chain of strategic minerals.
On June 6, President Donald Trump had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which the U.S. president described as a “very good” conversation. Trump said after the exchange that the issues concerning the supply of the critical rare earths minerals have been resolved.
“There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products,” the president said after the call.
By Dorothy Li
