Public sentiment generally supports China's rare earth export controls, viewing them as a necessary response to U.S. trade aggressions and a justified pushback against perceived U.S. economic coercion. Although there is some criticism of China's strong stance, most commenters express solidarity with China, blaming U.S. policies for escalating tensions and advocating for a balance in trade practices.

China

United States

He’ll have to play his Trump card and refuse to sell them American soy. . .

greenman5252

Wonder what these particular minerals are used for….anyone got an article with a super quick run down?

SyrupyMolassesMMM

Thanks to Trump. I don’t think anywhere in the world would have anyone sympathize the US.

Most likely they are getting popcorns and watching how the show unfolds.

Intelligent_Teach247

They control supply because China was out making allies in Africa while the US was busy pushing all of its allies away.

thinkB4WeSpeak

I’m excited to see how badly Donnie Diddler gets worked on this next round of negotiations

BasicWhiteHoodrat

Trump is playing go-fish and everyone else is playing high stakes poker yet again

Best_Conclusion4662

The issue isn't that the rest of the world lacks its own supply. The real problem is that we never allowed our industry to develop and mature enough to extract and manufacture it domestically. By permitting one country to monopolize, we weakened ourselves, all under the pretense of supporting free trade / Open economy. `

sin94

Too bad they’ll never control the US’s main rare earth export, stupidfuckium

gregonion

But does Trump understand any of that? Probably not

doggmapeete

A 12 year old has leverage over trump just by being smarter.

robustofilth

lord_saruman_

4D Chess by a dementia riddled middle schooler. Not gonna turn out too well for us.

coskibum002

Trump is an idiot, but we also need to distance ourselves from China. China unilaterally imposed a rare earth embargo on Japan when a territorial dispute arose in 2010. We should not depend on them.

By the way, Japan used to depend on China for 90% of its rare earths, but now that number has dropped to 50%.
Japan is also developing ways to reduce its consumption of rare earths.
America could do the same.

testman22

Hmmm, guess we're  going to have  another Vietnam War...

Complex_Sherbet2

Just curious. How is this export control any diff from what US is doing with chips?

Vinashak_Creator

"But no Drag Queen Storytime at the ICE facilities, so who cares? He's owning the libs &amp; that's all that matters to me. So, whats this about my new iPhone costing $4,000.00 &amp; carrots costing $10.00 per pound? "

PNW_Native_001

Rolandersec

- in past history, China had things that the west wanted, tea and porcelains. But China has limited trade. Opium war and later, scramble for China, they got what they wanted.
- The US (and West) has restricted access to high end semiconductor manufacturing equipment and also the most advanced computer chips.
- China has been working on creating chip manufacturing capabilities domestically. 
- The new REE restrictions put in by China, what would be the reason?

  - China is confident with progress they made in the efforts and now trying to hinder the west.
  - or perhaps they hit the wall in their efforts and try to use the restrictions as a bargaining chip.

- Any deal made would be temporary. China once extracted needed technology from ASML, etc will try to wean off foreign companies. The US and its allies will try to set up an independent supply chain to remove the critical dependence.

- Another approach for the West is to recreate the Scramble for China.

neverpost4

That POS is a disaster. He knows JACK Shit about economics, diplomacy and other Cultures. They really could send us to a quick DEPRESSION.

FarFromHomey

Not pictured: indium, hafnium, gallium, and other metals and byproducts that are *critical* to the production of the newest, cutting edge semiconductors and GPUs driving global AI advancement. China mines it (or owns who mines it), Taiwan manufactures, America has exclusive purchase rights on much of it. 


Changes to exports would have very real implications for war in the Pacific.  

valvilis

Let us all say our Goodbyes to Taiwan 👋🏽

Bedong44

This feels like the kind of thing wars start over.  The shooting kind.

LukeMayeshothand

Exactly. If there are new mines financed to develop new sites, China will flood the market, bankrupting the mining companies.

-JackBack-

It's only leverage if the opposing side thinks it's leverage. Trump is far too stupid to understand. 

Or worse, he thinks this is how you hurt everything that doesn't run on fossil fuels.

ttystikk

It has huge leverage over rare earths, it has leverage over farm exports and also seems to have had some success in diverting export markets. 

I would put high odds on trump caving to at least the basic freedom day tariffs, relaxation of export controls, and maybe a much better price for TikTok. I think that Trump will have to see some apparent progress on the TikTok deal to save face, but it will be a bit of a sham. 

we may also see some relaxation of the EV tariffs.

Puzzled49

Eeeeeelurvly

The solution is to spend lots of money to build mines elsewhere and then spend more money on the materials. 

Oh yea also for 5 years wile the mines gets built the minerals will have to be bought from 3rd countries at a mark up. 

Maybe make a deal lol

Careless-Pin-2852

I have used Yttrium in Yellow Glazes for Ceramics

PantiesPut267

Nah, trump's got [this](https://imgur.com/sQhwfNT) he can suck a shrimper better than anyone in the offal office (except Melinda) of course.

RepulsiveRooster1153

CV_1994-SI

Keep seeing the word “supply” which I think is a bit misleading. They have the extraction and refining. Countries like Canada have significantly larger reserves.

wind_dude

BENNYRASHASHA

They are heavily used in “renewable energy”, solar and wind. Maybe this will finally halt the stupidity of wind and solar…

GlitteringSwan8024

This guy is the maker of the deal alright! /s

crazy010101

Lonely_Cold2910

I see nothing wrong with China imposing rare earth restrictions on all countries that are imposing chip manufacturing equipments and related materials restriction on China. China FM said China doesn’t want a fight but won’t back down if it must. I think China has been way too nice. It’s time to confront the bully.
.

FlowerNo8190

But ….. the trump administration said they hold all the cards.

Competitive-Monk-624

He FAFO'd. It baffles me how he or any of his advisers manage to make the mental gymnastics work in the US' favor in anything related to China.

Illustrious_Law8512

Its ok!  Because their not white, so in essence Trump and America will win and are so much better!!

RamBoSkiLLz

China should just impose a 500% Export Tariff on Rare Earth Materials to all NATO member countries!

Really “rare earths” aren’t so rare, they just exist in low concentrations around the world. 

China has the largest supply because they’re willing to do crazy shit [like this](https://maps.app.goo.gl/RQmDQqVJ61ongN9b7?g_st=ipc) (change to satellite)

That’s a 4km across liquid industrial waste dump from the rare earth refiners and steel mill. No clay base lining to prevent groundwater contamination , no dust management for the city of 2 million downwind and constant expansion due to global demand. 

It’s done here because it cheap and because they don’t give a fuck.

OPismyrealname

It's too bad that Biden's focus was on sabotaging Trump instead of the people as he was leaving office...

https://naturalresources.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415919


https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/map-potential-areas-rare-earth-element-deposits-alaska

https://www.offshore-mag.com/regional-reports/us-gulf-of-mexico/news/55321241/us-district-court-rules-biden-offshore-drilling-ban-illegal

We actually have more rare-earth minerals than China, we just don't mine them.

SuchDogeHodler

so can we get these materials in europe or are we also blocked from importing them?

will_dormer

DA2710

Who named these metals anyway?

Scandium??

Remmy205

We want the latest technology but we want clean air and clean water. We want to go to China, China, cheap stuff, cheap stuff, cheap stuff, China, Taiwan, China, Taiwan os and now China has us by the balls. 

We need to start digging for our own minerals. We have some we have enough to do it. It does not take that long to build factories to process this stuff either.

tawaydont1

FishTacoAtTheTurn

China can only play this card for so long .. eventually the world will adjust. Europe has mostly weaned itself off of Russian gas and oil .. give it a few years.

GrampaJim64

Even if Pakistan are not selling, the corrupted official in China would be selling in the black market.

ValentinoCappuccino

It is not the rest of the world that doesn't have rare earth metals, it is just mining them would cause disaster to the environment that requires a lot of money to fix. China doesn't have this problem because they don't really care about the environment, and I think Pakistan can do the same.

lin1960

they are just samples folks. rare earth's are quite common.

Snoo_90491

Ehhh, I think everything was more or less fine until a certain character started with crazy tariffs against China and never anticipated that they would respond with strategic retaliation. What do you think, very crazy right?

Compayo

kotsumu

Sigh ..lol raw material is one.

China does almost all the processing for the mats.

How long before anyone can replace that at that scale?

There is nothing to do nuts about -_-..

thorsten139

That’s the next logical step really. 

China already makes all of our electronics, but say, if companies decide to one day change makers and leave China out of the picture, well… they now ALSO control the rare metals needed to make stuff with. The supply chain is still under their control, since you now have to buy said metals from them. 

Either way China doesn’t lose here and they’re going the extra mile to entice poor African nations to lend (in some cases buy) the land with the cheap promise of “making jobs for Africans”, all the while they rob the minerals from them. 

Scumbags

Xu_Lin

You guys are missing one point

If US starts investing in that part of Pakistan it will bring stability to the area because US would like to have stability there in order to invest. China needs stability in Pakistan so it can start to use the infrastructure it built to trade cis Pakistan. That’s why China is quite happy with US and Pakistan because overall it’s bringing stability in the area.

Aladdin_Man

If China just stayed chill and par the course they would of had the entire world in their hand. Them deciding to strong arm the world to “play their card” is only going to decrease trust the rest of the world has for them and begin to not rely on them. This will domino to China needing to force their hand rather than play it as time goes on.

Bro China could have ruled the world if they just floated calmly down the river.

kbailles

There were warnings and issues about it mention in the first round of tariffs earlier this year, but many just ignored it till China going public about it

vidphoducer

为什么美国对台积电，对英伟达，对NASA对一切高新科技企业的控制都如此疯狂？美国不停出牌，就不允许中国打一张牌吗？另外就欧美国家现在这个样子，给他们十年也没法建立起相关的产业，几万美元一袋的螺丝，十几亿美元建一座几天就被吹烂的浮港，这些国会老爷尚且嫌赚的不够，你让几代总统在十数年时间里投资几千亿美元，就为了建立起一条根本赚不到什么钱的稀土产业？

Usernnaammee

Yes, why is that? Is it because the United States, together with its allies, intends to completely block China's chips and all high-end manufacturing tools, and thus is being counterattacked? Or is it because the United States intends to impose huge tariffs on all Chinese ships at all ports, and thus is being counterattacked? In fact, the rare earth issue has almost nothing to do with Pakistan

Ashamed_Junket9989

They have less than 5 yrs to play this card. Can't keep saving it till it's worthless 😂

Super-Blah-

Reports of insane deposits of certain rare earths that would mostly replace China's own sources entirely exist in north america, its simply a matter of whether or not they choose to use it.

Opposite_Classroom39

Throughout the orange monkey's brief tenure, China has been vilified in every way possible so he and his cronies can make billions on the stock market thanks to inside information. 
Thanks to Western greed, China has grown into a true economic and technological powerhouse over the past 30+ years. Now it's simply playing cards that other countries don't have. 
It pains me to write this because I'm from Europe and wouldn't want to be under China's thumb, but everything points to this being the case in the future. 
I don't see anything stopping China. The orange monkey plays checkers while China plays chess.

polawiaczperel

Pakistan's army is basically is entirely debted / funded by China.

NewspaperLumpy8501

&gt;Rare earth minerals and magnets are critical to technologies from smartphones to electric vehicles and fighter jets. (...) China controls about 70 per cent of rare earth mining, 90 per cent of separation and processing, and 93 per cent of magnet manufacturing

I see different values for how much the entire rare earth sector is worth, but it seems to be somewhere between 5-15 billion USD. Which is to say: the sector is worth (in purely economic terms) something like 3 to 8 GTA VI's. The West has abandoned control over a crucial economic sector, despite the fact that it would not be that expensive to maintain capacity and independence.

What End of History does to a mf.

sinuhe_t

While this will obviously cause headaches for other countries, [the main chokepoint continues to be overlooked by mass media](https://research.nus.edu.sg/eai/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/EAIBB-No.-1843-Rare-earths_China-synopsis_exsum.pdf). Technology is a problem, though not an insurmountable one given sufficient time and money. Geology is a different story. 

&gt; HREEs, however, are much more geologically scarce and occur almost exclusively
in ion-adsorption clays, which are overwhelmingly concentrated in southern China
and parts of northern Myanmar. Outside of these areas, most known HREE deposits
are small, lower grade, more radioactive, or in environmentally prohibitive regions.
This stands in contrast to LREEs such as cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium, which
are far more geologically abundant and widely distributed across multiple continents,
including Brazil, Australia, the United States, and parts of Africa (much of which is
reflected in Figure 1). While light rare earths are still important for applications like
catalysts, glass polishing, and certain magnets, they are generally easier to source
and less strategically constrained. As a result, China’s roughly 60–65% share of the
light rare earths mine output is meaningful but not irreplaceable. This is not at all
the case with HREEs though, which represent a far more genuine supply choke point
for key technologies of the future. The below visual shows the gaps in China’s
participation between the two types of rare earths (Figure 2 and Figure 3). 

&gt; Once the focus shifts from all rare earths to just the HREEs, China’s position morphs
from temporarily dominant to near-absolute monopoly, accounting for more than
98% of global extraction if Myanmar is included and a near equivalent share of
separation capacity. **This is not a market distortion that can be easily fixed by
building more processing plants in the West. Without viable deposits, investment in
processing is somewhat irrelevant.** In this sense, Deng Xiaoping’s remarks
understate the level of control and dominance that China has over the rare earths
that matter. The only other known material sources of HREEs sits in regions
bordering China in Myanmar, which holds 10-15% of known global HREE reserves
(and all of their output is processed in China). There is no clear historical precedent
for this scale of control over a strategic asset. A few examples that come to mind are
De Beer’s control of the diamond trade in the 20th century or Sudan’s control over
Gum Arabic, a key input for soft drinks—but neither commodity has anything
approaching the same strategic or geopolitical value. 

People can talk all they want about Lynas this or Mountain Pass that. Here's what those companies have to say:

&gt; *Lynas 2024 Annual Report*: “The Company continues to investigate
opportunities to secure alternative sources of Heavy Rare Earth feedstock.
However, global availability is limited, with most supply originating from ionic
clay deposits in China and Myanmar.”

&gt; *MP Materials 2024 Annual Report*: “While the Mountain Pass facility produces
separated Light Rare Earth products such as NdPr, our planned Heavy Rare
Earth separation capabilities will still depend on feedstock imports. Current
non-Chinese supply is negligible, making global heavy rare earth supply chains
highly vulnerable to geopolitical risk.”

teethgrindingaches

This is essentially the US chip export controls reversed. Like that ban it will result in investments to create alternative supply chains but that will take time, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.

throwaway_veneto

Export controls to protect national security. Import controls to protect national security. Tarriffs to protect national security. What's next? Please tell me it's free trade agreements to protect national security.

Mister__Mediocre

I mean, given how NATO countries and other affiliates have openly talked about for years of creating trade blocs to shut out China, along with increasing hostility to trade with China in general, it's only natural for them to now weaponize rare earth exports.

Especially considering how very few countries actually retaliated against the US for its worldwide tariffs. China obviously doesn't want to be isolated economically. As such, restricting rare earths as a means of signaling possible further retaliation against countries aligning themselves with a US economic bloc is quite necessary.

Otherwise_Young52201

Paywall; https://archive.ph/N7gTp


**Rules come ahead of expected meeting this month between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping**

China has unveiled sweeping export controls on rare earths and related technologies, as it strengthens its leverage over critical minerals ahead of an expected meeting this month between US President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.


Under the new rules, foreign companies will need Beijing’s approval to export magnets that contain even trace amounts of Chinese-sourced rare earth materials, or that were produced using the country’s extraction methods, refining or magnet-making technology.


The restrictions announced on Thursday by the commerce ministry will for the first time create a Chinese version of the US foreign direct product rule, a measure Washington has used to block semiconductor-related exports to China from third countries.


The rules give Beijing more leverage to exert control over the global rare-earth supply chain.


Rare earth minerals and magnets are critical to technologies from smartphones to electric vehicles and fighter jets.


Beijing first introduced rare-earth export restrictions in April in retaliation for tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.


The move helped push Washington to the negotiating table, as the shortage of Chinese rare earths began to hit production in the US auto supply chain.


Since then, US shortages of the minerals have featured in several rounds of trade talks between the two countries. China’s latest controls come as Xi prepares to meet Trump in Gyeongju, South Korea, this month.


“The timing of this new policy is strategic,” said Gracelin Baskaran, a critical minerals expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “China just put some new negotiation pawns on the table.”


China controls about 70 per cent of rare earth mining, 90 per cent of separation and processing, and 93 per cent of magnet manufacturing, according to a Financial Times analysis.


China’s commerce ministry said the new measures were intended to “protect its national security and interests” and prevent the “misuse of rare earth materials in military and other sensitive sectors”. 
The ministry added that some overseas companies had significantly harmed China’s security by transferring Chinese-origin rare earth materials and technology to others for military use.


The new licensing regime will cover foreign-made rare earth magnets and certain semiconductor materials that by value contain at least 0.1 per cent Chinese-origin heavy rare earths.


The ministry said the rules would be phased in from December 1 with most export licences for military users to be denied. It said exports to manufacturers of semiconductors and related equipment would be examined on a case-by-case basis.
Dai Menghao, a trade compliance partner at law firm King &amp; Wood Mallesons, said China had put in place rules which closely mirror the US export-control regime.


“It’s a systematic, comprehensive response to the US,” Dai said, noting it would take China some time to build up enforcement mechanisms to fully match the US.

The news buoyed shares in China’s large state-owned rare earth groups. China Northern Rare Earth’s shares rose 10 per cent in Shanghai while Rising Nonferrous Metals Share stock was up by more than 6 per cent.


Beijing’s commerce ministry and customs administration also announced expanded export controls on some battery anodes and on lithium cathodes and precursors, among other key materials in the Chinese-dominated global battery supply chain.
It was not clear how strictly the controls would be implemented. CATL and BYD, the world’s two biggest battery makers, did not immediately comment.


China’s expanding rare earth controls have forced Washington to roll out significant state support for American and allied countries’ rare earth miners and magnet makers in attempt to break Beijing’s chokehold. The G7 group of advanced economies is also exploring how to build up a non-China supply chain.


“The new directive is a clear effort to hinder development of industrial base capabilities in the United States and its allies,” said Baskaran.

SevenNites

please sir orange, no, I am so tired of winning

generko

Borrowing the long arm export control technique invented in US by 1950s, and used extensively by Biden and Trump.

That "golden rule" is really in action here.

Hammerhead2046

The article graphic is wrong. Gallium and germanium aren't rare earths

Aoae


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Hilarious that they don't see the irony in that their statement can apply to advanced microchips as well.

US's chips controls can ‘forbid any country on Earth from participating in the modern economy

theassassintherapist

WH advisors also know that China controls so much of the US Treasury bonds as to wreak havoc if they wanted to.  

TACO Trump may not understand this but his advisors should. The USA cannot expect to win a tariff war with everyone at once.  

Brace up for another roller coaster week.

Unhappy-Drag6531

appealouterhaven

I mean, this has only been a problem for at least a decade. Who could have seen this coming?

Cre0na

The US has plenty of rare-earth metals producing ores...it's just incredibly expensive and environmentally devastating to mine and process them for use.   

That's why we're dependent on the Chinese who have cheap exploitable labor and don't care about how much pollution that mining and processing this crap creates.

Stereo_Jungle_Child

Joebeemer

The US has been warned about this for a decade or more. Trump does not listen.

disasterbot

Looks like tRump has to start another conflict with China to get what he wants. That being the only world Dictator that controls everyone and everything. Come on clown donny, set up some military ships just far enough into international waters to board China transport ships. His excuse of course is he is waging war with his own citizens right now.

pogishushu

So are they saying that government control of the economy and restricting of foreign trade is bad?

jediporcupine

so are they noticing that just now, after starting a commercial war with China? lol

belisario262

AdCharacter7966

The same goes for your asinine tariffs you complete donkeys.

friendsafariguy11

Maybe not start random trade wars with them?

Classic-Break5888

Sounds like you dumbasses don’t hold the cards, ey?

Ohuigin

SMH. Americans.Letting a con artist ascend to the highest office in the land. SMH. Stupid cattle.

Passionpet

Most ppl here don’t understand the context or the significance. The USA has been sending all of their  rare earth minerals to China. China has the only way to process rare earth minerals efficiently. The US is officially cut off from that processing, which effectively means, their production has been reduced and will eventually be halted.

Icy_Alter

America doesn’t need rare earth materials.  We are putting all our investments in coal and oil.

vCw1

Didn't we find rare earth on US soil like a few months back? I remember a story in the news, Alaska Maybe?

CurrentlyLucid

As long as POTUS keeps behaving like an idiot (and screaming about insane tariffs) it is quite understandable that a country with a millennial culture and tradition, actually the largest country in the world, reacts...

True_Let_2007

Lmao! Well, will we go to war with vibranium next? Or how about adimantium?

vroart

...then find another place to get Rare Earths from. Maybe that'll mean accepting a higher cost or reducing environmental regulations, but a healthy market of multiple competitors would help this monopoly problem.

LangyMD

Too bad that the US doesn't have competent staff with foreign policy skills

motohaas

I thought China's greatest economic question mark has always been that they have nearly no natural resources beneath their land, most notably oil.


Like I've heard this my entire life and it was reinforced when China and Russia were kind-of-halfway-but-not-fully committed to their partnership when Russia started the current Russia-Ukraine War?


Was I misinformed my whole 33 years of life or is trump lying for effect again?

Spam_Hand

We are too busy addressing issues like - LGBTQ, DEI and books in school etc.

confused_ma

China has no natural advantage with these minerals. They just got into the game of mining and applying them first, and now they control the market.

manniesalado

China has escalated its trade tensions with the U.S. by weaponizing its dominance over rare earth elements, crucial for various industries including defense and technology.

China's Rare Earth Export Controls

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

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