China suspends some critical mineral export curbs to the U.S. as trade truce takes hold
Gallium crystals were spotted in a laboratory at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology in Saxony, Germany, on September 13, 2023.
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China has rolled back a series of restrictions on exports of critical minerals and rare earth materials to the United States, in a sign that a trade truce between the world’s two largest economies continues.
China Ministry of Commerce said friday said it would suspend for a year some export controls on critical minerals used in military hardware, semiconductors and other high-tech industries.
The suspended restrictions, first implemented on October 9, include limits on the export of certain rare earth elements, lithium battery materials and processing technologies.
The relaxations in exports came after the meetings between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on October 30.
Beijing also reversed retaliatory curbs regarding the export of gallium, germanium, antimony and other so-called superhard materials such as synthetic diamonds and boron nitrides. These measures, implemented in December 2024, were widely seen as retaliation for Washington’s expanded semiconductor export restrictions on China.
China classifies such materials as “dual-use products”; This means they can be used for both civilian and military purposes.
Beyond military applications, these critical minerals are used in the semiconductor industry and other high-tech sectors (sectors at the center of US-China trade tensions).
Beijing also suspended stricter end-user and end-use verification checks on dual-use graphite exports to the United States in December 2024, alongside the broader export ban.
China dominates global production of the most critical minerals and rare earth elements and increasingly uses its export policies as leverage in trade disputes.
As part of the latest China-US trade deal many concessions were acceptedThey include reducing tariffs on Chinese imports by 10 percentage points and suspending Trump’s increased “reciprocal tariffs” on Chinese imports until November 10, 2026.
The United States will also postpone a rule announced on September 29 that would blacklist majority-owned subsidiaries of Chinese companies on its entity list.
