
China's rare earth dominance faces global pushback but Beijing has ‘strong hand': analysts
Advertisement
In June, the Ministry of Commerce announced that it would
approve qualified export applications and was open to discussions with other countries regarding the restrictions. But as rare earths emerge as a new front in the US-China rivalry, companies worldwide have announced plans for a string of projects designed to break dependence on Chinese supplies.
On July 2, the Australia-listed St George Mining announced in an email that it had begun identifying enriched mineral zones at its fully-owned Araxá niobium-rare earth elements project in Brazil.
Two weeks earlier, US companies Kaz Resources and Cove Kaz Capital issued a statement about their partnership with Kazakhstan's national geological company to explore and hold metallurgical tests at the Akbulak rare earth project.
To fund a rare earth project in southern Greenland, the Nasdaq-listed
Critical Metals Corp said in June that it had secured a loan of up to US$120 million from the US Export-Import Bank.
Advertisement
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump's fresh tariffs on East Asia, China's rare earth dominance: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing US President Donald Trump, apparently impatient with the slow progress of negotiations, on Monday slapped 25 per cent unilateral tariffs on Japan and South Korea and equal or higher import taxes on several other nations ahead of a self-imposed Wednesday deadline. Beijing's recent export controls on rare earths have spurred a flurry of international efforts to diversify supply chains and reduce China's long-standing dominance in critical minerals. When US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to extend a pause on 'reciprocal' tariffs until August 1, it offered little comfort to China. Instead, Beijing's policymakers may feel increasingly cornered, as Washington also moved to target 14 countries – many of them China's close trading partners – with tariffs of up to 40 per cent.


South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Why Trump's 14-nation tariff package puts China on edge and pressures Southeast Asia
When US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to extend a pause on 'reciprocal' tariffs until August 1, it offered little comfort to China. Advertisement Instead, Beijing's policymakers may feel increasingly cornered, as Washington also moved to target 14 countries – many of them China's close trading partners – with tariffs of up to 40 per cent. This came despite breakthrough talks in London that laid the groundwork to remove most bilateral export controls – from China's rare earth restrictions to US aircraft engines and chips. Analysts said the latest US tariff package was a calculated strategy to isolate China and strengthen Washington's position in coming trade negotiations, as the 90-day trade truce agreed in May is set to expire in early August. 'Trump's newly announced tariffs ... are a continuation of this decoupling agenda,' said Xu Weijun, an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Public Policy at South China University of Technology. Advertisement 'It's both pressure and division: the message is clear – 'cooperative' countries like Vietnam get preferential treatment , while others face high tariffs,' he said.


South China Morning Post
12 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
TikTok owner denies accepting Oracle deal as deadline approaches for US sell-or-ban law
TikTok owner ByteDance has denied a recent report that it agreed to sell its US operations to a consortium led by Oracle, according to multiple Chinese media. On Monday, Chinese media GeekPark published an article saying that the Beijing-based social media giant had given the nod for a sale to a group led by Oracle, in which it would maintain a minority stake. The article has since been removed. Meanwhile, the company is reportedly working on new versions of the popular short video app, as well as its video editor CapCut, both targeted specifically at the US market. A US-only edition of TikTok was under development and slated for launch in early September, while the current version would be shut down for American users by March 2026, according to a Sunday report by The Information, citing unnamed sources. US President Donald Trump speaks to journalists about TikTok as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, January 20, 2025. Photo: Pool/AFP/Getty Images/TNS ByteDance's planned release of a US version of CapCut was reported on Monday by Business Insider, citing internal documents. The company 'has been studying plans' for US-only apps, but had not made up its mind, according to a person familiar with the matter.