China’s Rare Earth Export Pause Ends Nov. 10: What Changes
China rare earth export controls: Beijing’s pause on its widest curbs expires Nov. 10. What was suspended, what was not, and supply at stake.
China’s one-year pause on its broadest rare earth export controls is due to expire on Nov. 10, 2026, and as of mid-October Beijing had not published a legal notice extending it. The pause was China’s side of the trade truce that President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping reached in South Korea in late October 2025. This guide to China rare earth export controls covers what China controls, what was paused, what never was, and why the date matters for factories far outside China.
What China agreed to in the 2025 truce
According to a White House fact sheet dated Nov. 1, 2025, China committed to “suspend the global implementation of the expansive new export controls on rare earths and related measures that it announced on October 9, 2025.” It also agreed to issue general licenses for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite to U.S. end users, which the White House called “the de facto removal of controls China imposed since 2023.”
Washington made matching moves. The fact sheet says the United States would suspend for one year, starting Nov. 10, 2025, its rule extending export controls to affiliates of companies on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, and would keep its heightened reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods suspended until Nov. 10, 2026. CNBC reported that the affiliates rule could have reached some 20,000 Chinese entities.
Paused versus still in force
The October 2025 package was sweeping. Technology.org, citing China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announcements, reports that it added five more rare earths to the control list, covered processing equipment and technology, and reached foreign-made products that contain Chinese-origin rare earths. China suspended six of those notices with Announcement No. 70 on Nov. 7, 2025, and the suspension runs until Nov. 10, 2026, the same report says.
An earlier regime was never paused. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 records that in April 2025 China added controls on samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, and that “the April export controls remained in effect,” although China began issuing general licenses to selected exporters.
| Measure | Announced | What it covers | Status on Oct. 26, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing of seven medium and heavy rare earths | April 2025 | Samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, yttrium | In force; never suspended (USGS) |
| Expanded controls (six notices) | Oct. 9, 2025 | Five more rare earths, equipment, technology, foreign-made goods with Chinese content | Suspended until Nov. 10, 2026 (MOFCOM, via Technology.org) |
| U.S. Entity List affiliates rule | 2025 | Majority-owned subsidiaries of listed companies | Suspended for one year from Nov. 10, 2025 (White House) |
| Wider U.S.-China truce | Late Sept. 2026 | Two-month extension | To Jan. 10, 2027, per Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; no matching Chinese legal text published (Technology.org) |
Peter’s World comparison built from the White House fact sheet, USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, CNBC and Technology.org.
How much leverage China holds
The USGS figures explain why the date draws attention. The survey estimates that China mined 270,000 metric tons of rare earth oxide equivalent in 2025, out of a world total of about 390,000, or roughly 69%. China also holds an estimated 44 million metric tons of reserves, the largest of any country listed.
| Country | Mine production 2025 (metric tons REO) | Share of world total |
|---|---|---|
| China | 270,000 | ~69% |
| United States | 51,000 | ~13% |
| Australia | 29,000 | ~7% |
| Burma (Myanmar) | 22,000 | ~6% |
| World total (rounded) | 390,000 | 100% |
Shares calculated by Peter’s World from USGS estimates; rounded.
Mining is only part of the picture. The same USGS summary says 71% of U.S. imports of rare earth compounds and metals came from China in 2021–24, and that net import reliance for those products was 67% in 2025.
Where shipments stand
China’s exports are flowing, but unevenly. Citing Chinese customs data reported by Reuters, Technology.org says China exported 43,711 metric tons of rare earths in the first nine months of 2026, down 9.6% from a year earlier.
Beijing has also signaled that Europe may be treated separately. On Oct. 15, MOFCOM spokesperson He Yadong told CNBC that China was willing to keep approving rare earth export licenses for the European Union regardless of whether the U.S. truce is extended past January. CNBC reported that China asked the EU in return to support Chinese imports of certain dual-use products.
Why it matters
Analysis: Peter’s World interpretation based on the sources cited above.
The Nov. 10 date matters less as a cliff than as a test of how the truce is being run. Washington has announced an extension to January; Beijing’s paperwork, as of mid-October, still pointed to November. Until both sides publish matching texts, compliance teams at magnet, motor and defense suppliers have only the legal date to plan against, and a licensing queue can stall a production line faster than a tariff can.
The table shows why the April 2025 rules are the bigger long-term issue. They cover the heavy rare earths, such as dysprosium and terbium, that are hardest to source elsewhere, and they were never part of the bargain. Even a smooth extension in November would leave China holding a license-by-license valve over those elements.
The European channel adds a second lever. By offering the EU continued licenses while asking for help on dual-use imports, Beijing is pricing access to its minerals in technology terms, a pattern worth watching as the January deadline approaches. For the United States, the USGS data point to the gap still to be closed: domestic mining reached an estimated 51,000 tons in 2025, but most refined compounds and metals still came from abroad.
What to watch
- Whether MOFCOM publishes a notice extending Announcement No. 70 before Nov. 10.
- Whether the Commerce Department formally extends its suspension of the affiliates rule.
- EU-China follow-up on the “green channel” for licenses.
For daily coverage, see the trade war news hub.
Sources
- The White House: Fact Sheet on the U.S.-China economic and trade deal (Nov. 1, 2025)
- U.S. Geological Survey: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Rare Earths
- CNBC: China indicates rare earths will keep flowing to EU (Oct. 15, 2026)
Additional sources
- Technology.org: China Rare Earth Export Pause: What Ends on 10 November (Oct. 19, 2026)
- U.S. Department of War: 2025 China Military Power Report, which notes China controls most rare earths used in directed-energy weapons
