China has once again tightened controls on rare earth exports and related technologies, just days before a potential meeting between President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.
Beijing announced that several additional elements — including holmium, erbium, thulium, europium, and ytterbium — will now fall under export restrictions.
Earlier curbs this year severely disrupted Europe’s car industry, leading to shortages of magnets used in vehicle doors and boot mechanisms, and causing delays on assembly lines.
European leaders have voiced alarm at China’s growing leverage over global supply chains. Kathleen van Brempt, vice president of the European Socialists and Democrats trade group, said:
“This is a new wake-up call for Europe. These raw materials are vital for our sustainable and digital transition — for batteries, wind turbines, cars, and chips. The fact that one country can hold a knife to our throat with the snap of a finger is a fundamental problem.”
In a further tightening move, China’s commerce ministry also added dozens of rare earth processing equipment types to its control list, restricting the development of refining capacity outside the country.
Foreign companies must now obtain a licence from Beijing to export any products containing more than 0.1% rare earth content, or those manufactured using Chinese extraction, refining, magnet-making, or recycling technology.
