{"id":4216,"date":"2025-10-20T13:42:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/china-us-rare-earths-tensions-ramp-up-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T13:42:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:42:54","slug":"china-us-rare-earths-tensions-ramp-up-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/china-us-rare-earths-tensions-ramp-up-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"China, US Rare Earths Tensions Ramp Up Ahead of Trump-Xi Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

China has accused the US of \u201cseriously distorting and exaggerating\u201d Beijing\u2019s newly expanded rare earths export controls, but signaled a willingness to hold talks before an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe US interpretation seriously distorts and exaggerates China\u2019s measures, deliberately creating unnecessary misunderstanding and panic,\u201d Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yongqian said Thursday (October 16). <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Global Times, he emphasized that Beijing\u2019s restrictions are intended to protect national security and prevent the misuse of rare earths in military applications, not to destabilize global markets.<\/p>\n

The remarks follow a sharp escalation in rhetoric between the two countries after China expanded its export controls last week to include five additional rare earth elements: holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The new rules will take effect in stages starting November 8, coinciding with the expiry of a six month trade truce between Washington and Beijing. Foreign companies that use Chinese materials or equipment to produce rare earths products will require Chinese export licenses, even if no Chinese firm is directly involved in the transaction.<\/p>\n

Beijing has also vowed stricter scrutiny of applications tied to advanced semiconductors and defense systems, such as 14 nanometer chips and artificial intelligence used in weapons platforms.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Washington pushes back against Beijing <\/h3>\n

Top US officials have accused Beijing of attempting to weaponize its dominance in the global rare earths supply chain, which accounts for about 70 percent of global production and more than 90 percent of processing capacity.<\/p>\n

At a press briefing on Wednesday (October 15), US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called China\u2019s new measures a \u201cglobal supply chain power grab\u201d and warned that Washington and its allies \u201cwould not accept the restrictions.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, he also said China has not yet implemented the full regulatory system and suggested there is still room to de-escalate. \u201cThese are drafted, or in draft, so it\u2019s quite real,\u201d Greer said. <\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cBut our expectation is that they won\u2019t implement this, and that we\u2019ll be able to be back to where we were a week ago, where we had the tariff levels we\u2019ve agreed to and the flow of rare earths that we agreed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent echoed the sentiment, telling CNBC that the Trump administration does not want to further inflame tensions, but will act decisively if Beijing moves forward with its restrictions. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get an announcement like this week with China on the rare earths, you realize we have to be self-sufficient, or we have to be sufficient with our allies,\u201d Bessent said.<\/p>\n

He also accused China of using its dominance in rare earths refining and processing to slash prices and drive foreign competitors out of the market. Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods starting on November 1 \u2014 or sooner \u2014 if Beijing moves ahead with the export controls. <\/p>\n

Despite the mounting friction, both sides remain committed to a scheduled meeting between Trump and Xi in South Korea later this month, highlighting the indispensable nature of rare earths to modern industry.<\/p>\n

They are used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones and, crucially, in US military systems such as F-35 fighter jets, Tomahawk missiles and Predator drones. Each F-35 is estimated to require more than 400 kilograms of rare earths for its stealth coatings, motors and radar systems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

US eyes new critical minerals sources <\/h3>\n

In response to China\u2019s dominance, Washington has ramped up efforts to secure alternative sources of critical minerals. <\/p>\n

The Department of Defense earlier this year struck a deal with MP Materials (NYSE:MP), the largest US rare earths producer. It includes an equity stake, a price floor and an offtake deal to guarantee supply for defense applications.<\/p>\n

Separately, the Trump administration is reportedly exploring a potential investment in Critical Metals (NASDAQ:CRML), a US-listed firm developing Greenland\u2019s vast Tanbreez rare earths deposit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on investingnews.com<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

China has accused the US of \u201cseriously distorting and exaggerating\u201d Beijing\u2019s newly expanded rare earths export controls, but signaled a willingness to hold talks before an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. \u201cThe US interpretation seriously distorts and exaggerates China\u2019s measures, deliberately creating unnecessary misunderstanding and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4217,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetradingdictionary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}