In a new sign of easing relations after last week's meeting between the Chinese and American presidents, China confirmed today that it has suspended a ban on exports to the United States of rare earth metals gallium, germanium and antimony, important in industrial production.
In December 2024, Beijing introduced restrictions on these metals as part of regulations aimed at dual-use products, that is, products that can be used for civilian purposes, but also for military purposes, for example, for the production of weapons.
Those bans have been suspended from today, until November 27, 2026, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced.
China thus confirmed the White House's announcement a few days ago. The announcement is a new sign of goodwill from Beijing, following the meeting between Chinese and US Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump on October 30 in South Korea.
That summit helped ease months of tensions that had also affected the global economy.
The issue of banning the export of rare metals has become a contentious issue between Beijing and Washington, two rivals for global technological dominance.
China is a major producer of these metals. They are not classified as rare "earth elements," a different group of important metals, but they are equally essential to various parts of the economy.
Gallium, found in integrated circuits, LED lamps and photovoltaic panels, is considered a critical raw material, according to European Union criteria. Germanium is essential for optical fibers, and antimony is used in the energy transition, and is integrated into electric vehicle batteries, and is also used in the weapons industry.
China's Ministry of Commerce also announced in a brief statement today that it will ease export restrictions on graphite-related products, also under the dual-use product regulations. The stricter end-use verification of these products, announced in December 2024, has also been suspended until November 27, 2026.
China announced on Wednesday that it would suspend for a year some of the tariffs imposed on American products at the height of the trade war, and keep tariffs at 10 percent.
It also announced that it was waiving additional tariffs imposed since March on soybeans and several American agricultural products, measures that had hit Donald Trump's electoral base hard.
Trump announced in late October that China had agreed to suspend for one year restrictions imposed on October 9 on the export of technologies related to rare earth elements essential for defense, the automotive industry, and electronics.
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