China has tightened curbs on supplies of rare earths to include items manufactured abroad using rare earths sourced from China, as well as technologies related to the extraction of rare earths, the manufacturing of magnets and the recycling of the minerals, according to Ministry of Commerce statements. It is as yet unclear how China will enforce these new rules, particularly those that require users in non-Chinese jurisdictions to acquire export licenses from China.
This is another reminder of China’s almost complete control over rare earths and is a more official announcement of limitations on technology exports that have already been informally in place to some degree for years. The major difference now is that the rest of the world is under much greater pressure to find a solution to rare earths supplies, which are so important to industries such as semiconductors and AI.