The Wall Street Journal: China restricts rare earth exports to US defense companies

The Chinese government is developing a mechanism for exporting rare earth metals to the US, with the help of which it hopes to prevent the raw materials from falling into the hands of American defense companies, writes The Wall Street Journal.

The publication specifies that the aim of China's new plan is to simultaneously facilitate the supply of rare earth metals by Chinese companies to the US for civilian purposes. The regulatory scheme will resemble the end-user verification system introduced in the US back in 2007.

Within the framework of this program, a number of Chinese companies are granted permission to purchase special goods on the basis of a general authorization - essentially a simplified export approval mechanism.

They do not need individual licenses for each purchase. At the same time, sometimes Chinese companies within the program lose this permission, which causes discontent in Beijing, notes WSJ.

The new introduction will allow China to fulfill the US conditions for promoting the export of rare earth resources. At the same time, according to sources of the publication, Beijing's plans may change in the future.

Earlier, China suspended the ban on exports to the US of gallium, germanium, tin, superhard materials and other rare earth metals, the export of which was prohibited from December 2024.