U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shook hands with the Chinese deputy prime minister during a bilateral meeting between the United States and China in Geneva, Switzerland on May 11, 2025.
Keystone/Eda/Martial Trezzini | By Reuters
China has temporarily stopped export restrictions on 28 U.S. companies.
But China continues to block the U.S. from seven rare earth metals countries, which rely on the U.S. defense, energy and automotive industries.
According to the Geneva Trade Statement, China has agreed to “take all necessary administrative measures to address non-tariff countermeasures against the United States since April 2, 2025.”
One of these countermeasures is the rare earth export curb.
When asked about control of rare earths at a regular press conference Thursday, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said it had no information to provide.
On April 4, China announced a series of retaliation measures against President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, including export restrictions on seven rare earth metals: Samar, gadolinium, terbium, terbium, dospprosium, dospprosium, lutettium, lutettium, scandium, scandium and yttrium.
It is unclear why rare earth controls were not included when China's Ministry of Commerce announced relaxation of other non-Talif countermeasures in April.
On Wednesday, China removed 28 U.S. companies from its export control list in 90 days. It also disconnected 17 companies from their "unreliable entity list", including 11 companies in 90 days.
On the same day, the Ministry of Commerce issued a statement explaining China's efforts to pursue rare earths and the need for a wider government control over national security by metal control.
It wrote: “All departments agree that the overall control of strategic minerals is crucial.”
Most rare earth elements or Reese elements imported into the United States come from China. Beijing sees them as effective leverage points in trade talks with Washington.
Social media accounts linked to the National Broadcasting Corporation CCTV have been hinting at the importance of their trade talks.
"What could happen to U.S. weapons and equipment as the U.S. defense industry is strangled by a rare planet's shortage?" Yuyuantantian released last Friday.
Of the 28 companies that impose probation on dual-use export restrictions, many of them are a common goal of Beijing's sanctions because of their activities in the defense sector.
The top 16 of these companies have been added to the China export control list, a few days after Trump announced huge tariffs on most Chinese products.
These companies include General Logistics Holding,,,,, NetworkHudson Technology and International Ocean.
Beijing added more companies to its export control list on April 9, when Trump announced a three-month pause in tariffs on every country except China. The companies on the day included Teledyne Brown Engineering, Kratos Unmanned aviation system and foreign education.
Any company that wants to export dual supplies from China needs to first obtain approval from the country's Ministry of Commerce.
The 17 companies on the "Unreliable Entity List" are prohibited from importing or exporting to China and making new investments in the country.
Companies that were suspended from this list include several drone manufacturers, such as Nevada Sierra and Kratos.
China added 11 of the companies to the list on April 4, and the other six were on April 9.