China’s Rare-Earths Power Move Jolted Trump: Washington Post

China is wielding one of its most potent tools of economic coercion — its dominance over the rare earths used to make everything from laptops to jet engines — in a bid to extract concessions from President Donald Trump and ensure the world remains dependent on China for critical raw materials, Christian Shepherd and Lyric Lee reported for The Washington Post.

Licenses are now required for Chinese companies to export rare-earth mining and separation machinery abroad. (Photo: China Daily / Baotou Municipal Government)

Beijing’s expansion of export restrictions on rare earths, which came two weeks before Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to meet, reportedly caught the White House by surprise.

It came, Trump said, “out of the blue.”

China strengthened its bargaining position by mirroring U.S. restrictions on computer chips and other advanced technologies — measures Beijing views as constraints on its technological development and is lobbying for the Trump administration to lift.

Rare earths are Beijing’s “trump card,” said Laila Khawaja, an analyst at Gavekal, a Hong Kong–based research firm. “Nothing else can make the U.S. blink,” she added.

China accounts for about 70% of global rare-earth mining and roughly 90% of the processing of 17 chemically unique metals. The expanded restrictions, imposed in response to Trump’s tariffs, culminated in last week’s new rules.

Starting Nov. 8, 12 of the 17 rare earths will be subject to export controls, and Beijing will impose additional restrictions on lithium batteries.

Licenses are now required for Chinese companies to export rare-earth mining and separation machinery abroad.

Most significant is a new global licensing requirement set to take effect Dec. 1: under the rule, companies worldwide must obtain Beijing’s approval to export rare-earth magnets or semiconductor materials containing even 0.1% of controlled metals originating from China.