China has announced that it has suspended its ban on exporting critical minerals such as gallium, germanium, antimony, and super-hard metals to the United States.
According to a statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce, the decision—originally adopted on December 3, 2024—falls under measures restricting exports of products and materials with dual military and civilian use to U.S. defense industry manufacturers. These restrictions have now been suspended until November 27, 2026.
The initial measures stipulated that exports of key minerals widely used in defense and weapons systems—such as gallium, germanium, and antimony—would “in principle not be permitted.” The ministry also noted that exports of graphite, which is widely used in battery and fuel cell production as well as the defense and aerospace sectors, would be placed under tighter controls.
Countermeasure to U.S. Chip Restrictions
Beijing’s move came in response to additional restrictions introduced by the administration of then-U.S. President Joe Biden on China’s semiconductor industry.
On December 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced new export controls covering 24 types of chip manufacturing equipment and three categories of software used in semiconductor development. The restrictions also banned exports of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips—widely used in artificial intelligence systems—to China.
Additionally, the Commerce Department added 140 more Chinese companies to its “Entity List,” subjecting them to export controls.
U.S. and China Move to De-escalate Trade Tensions
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached an agreement during their meeting in Busan, South Korea, on October 30 to mutually defer a series of contentious economic and trade measures that had heightened tensions in recent months.
On September 29, the U.S. postponed by one year the enforcement of a rule extending export controls to foreign companies in which export-restricted entities own more than a 50% stake. In exchange, China agreed on October 9 to delay by one year the implementation of its measures controlling exports of rare earth elements.
Beijing later announced on November 7 that it would postpone for one year the enforcement of rare earth export control measures initially set to take effect on November 10.
Source: Bloomberght/ Prepared by: İlayda Gök