China imposes export controls on rare earths and magnets

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China places export licensing requirements on a group of medium and heavy rare-earth elements and on rare-earth permanent magnets, following earlier controls on gallium and germanium in 2023, on graphite in 2023 and on antimony in 2024. Because separation and magnet manufacture are concentrated overwhelmingly in China, the measures propagated quickly into automotive, wind turbine and defence supply chains outside it. The event demonstrates the argument of the critical-minerals object in a single instrument: the leverage is in processing rather than in geology, and it can be exercised administratively at short notice. The scope and current status of these controls as of August 2026 were not checkable in this session.

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