A few hours ago, the U.S. Treasury Department sent a notification to the National Tax Service employees: “The law prohibits everyone from working!” that is, even the U.S. Tax Service has closed its doors. Next, what will happen in the United States, no one knows.
This is the 62nd announcement of the Ministry of Commerce of China in 2025, the announcement pointed out that according to the relevant laws of China, with the approval of the State Council of China, export controls on rare earth-related technologies and other objects will be implemented from today.
In the main body of the announcement, it stipulates which technologies are not allowed to be exported. These include not only rare earth mining, smelting and separation, metal smelting, magnetic material manufacturing and other technologies, but also the assembly, debugging and maintenance technologies of related production lines are no longer allowed to be exported. Moreover, this announcement is aimed at all China citizens, legal persons and unincorporated organizations. No one can provide technical support for overseas rare earth mining in the future!
Timing is right: the United States '"precise decision" when it is too busy to take care of itself
Anyone who knows a little about international games knows that when policies are introduced is often more particular than the content of the policy itself. This time, the announcement of the Ministry of Commerce of China clearly explains the matter of "seizing the opportunity."
The government shutdown has led to a massive shutdown of federal agencies, and even the core departments dealing with international trade disputes are frightened, let alone to come up with a set of solutions to address this strategically linked industrial shock.
You must know that after Trump took office for the second time, he has been giving priority to "doing rare earths by himself" and other major issues. He has given mining companies a green light to speed up approval, and has set a guaranteed reserve price for neodymium and praseodymium that is twice the market price. He has also pulled Japan and Australia to engage in the "Quad Critical Minerals Initiative" to prospect for minerals and build industrial chains all over the world. But when he wanted to break through most, the U.S. government dropped the chain first.
More importantly, China's control this time is not a "sudden surprise attack", but a "gradual escalation" that has been laid down for a long time.
The Ministry of Commerce has long said that rare-earth technology entered the list of prohibited exports in 2001, and in April this year also added controls on 7 categories of medium-heavy rare-earth objects, such as enterprises such as Western Magnetic Technology, foreign sales revenue dropped by more than 30 percent.
Now, while the internal affairs of the United States became a group of coded technology control, is equivalent to hit a "time gap" - when the US government reopened to think of the response, China's control measures have long been rooted, foreign enterprises want to steal the technology has no way.
Some industry insiders put it bluntly: "It's like your opponent is bending down to tie his shoelaces. You throw a punch accurately without giving you a chance to dodge."
These years, the United States has always used rare earth as a "weapon", while relying on China's supplies, while also restricting allies to cooperate with China. Like the Indian media picked out, the US military F35 fighter aircraft can be built with 408 kilograms of rare earth, Virginia class nuclear submarines to use to 4.17 tons, and the key magnets are 100% dependent on China.
Previously, the U.S. Department of Defense has also pressured Loma to "freeze the dependence on China", and as a result, searching around the world has not found any alternative sources, and in the end can only be recognized.
Thorough enough control: "full chain lock" from mine to production line
If you just look at the title of the announcement, some people may think that "technical control" is nothing new, but if you take a look at the terms in the text, you will know that this time it is really a "tough move" and almost the technological lifeline of the rare earth industry is in your hands.
The list of controls listed in the announcement is simply "no space left": not only can the core technology of mining rare earth not be exported, even the separation of metallurgy, metal purification, magnetic materials manufacturing these key links are all dead, and even the assembly of the production line, debugging, maintenance technology is not allowed to be transmitted.
What does that mean? Even if foreign companies get rare earth mines, without China's technical support, they will either be unable to open mines or refine high-purity products. Even if they barely build the production line, no one will repair it if it breaks down.
This “all-chain control” has just struck the pain of the global rare earth industry – China has long been not only the “mine owner” of resource sales, but the “leader” of the entire industrial chain technology.
According to the data of China Rare Earth Group, we are the only country in the world that can supply various rare earth products in large quantities. More than 90% of the world's high-quality smelting and separation products come from China, and heavy rare earth processing accounts for 99%. Even The only processing plant in Vietnam has stopped due to tax issues.
For example, the nitrogen-nitrogen components of the hidden fighter aircraft radar can not be separated from rare-earthly uranium, China not only accounts for 68% of the world's reserves, but also monopolized more than 90% of refining production capacity, the US military wants to upgrade the F35 radar, must look at the face of China.
What is more noteworthy is that this control covers all China entities-whether state-owned enterprises, private enterprises or individuals. It is illegal to provide relevant technical support overseas.
Before there were some overseas enterprises want to steal technology through the "growing Chinese engineers" "buy second-hand equipment in turn research" method, now engineers do not dare to jump, equipment is broken and no one repairs, in turn, research is more unthinking.
There is an American think tank account, even if they want to make their own technological breakthroughs, the light rebuilding of the metallurgy separation system will take 10 years, investing $300 billion, now China exports technology one card, this cycle may have to be extended.
The United States has no temper: the "unsolved dilemma" under the shortcomings of the industrial chain
When China's "heavy punch" continues, the most painful thing is the United States, which has been shouting "decoupling from China." However, they do not even have the strength to fight back, because their own rare earth industry chain has long been full of loopholes.
After Trump came to power, he has always wanted to rebuild the local industrial chain, and again to give money and give policy, but the "old trouble" in the bones is not cured.
First of all, the "poor foundation": the only Mountain Pass mine still being mined in the United States produces all light rare earths and almost no heavy rare earths. More than half of the 14 rare earth elements have to be imported, but heavy rare earths are a "necessity" in the fields of military industry and new energy. Without resources as the foundation, no matter how powerful the technology is, it is useless.
The second is "the next day cannot follow": the US rare earth industry has long broken the "technology roots". twenty-five years ago stopped funding for mining metallurgy colleges, relevant specialties are almost no one has learned, now even skilled metallurgy workers can not find the same, separation factory hourly wage is higher than the average level of 50%, but can not hire people.
The rare earth minerals mined by MP Materials Company had to be shipped abroad for separation and then shipped back to the United States. There is not even a decent separation plant in the country. Nowadays, China does not allow the export of technology. They have no drawings if they want to build a separation plant. Even if they insist on building it, environmental assessment and community litigation will take three to five years, and the cost is alarmingly high.
The worst thing is that the "ally card" of the United States doesn't work anymore. Trump pulled Japan and Australia to engage in the "Critical Minerals Initiative", but these allies either lack resources or technology.
Australia has rare earth mines, but the smelting technology depends on China; Japan can make magnetic materials, but all the raw materials can be bought from China. Recently, the European Union has publicly opposed the "priority procurement" policy of the United States, feeling that it has been taken advantage of.
Ironically, the United States wanted to cooperate with Burma and Greenland in mining, and the result was that even mining equipment had to be bought from China, and logistics had to be approved by China.
The U.S. government is still shutting down, and even if it wants to introduce countermeasures, no one will take the lead. By the time they finally reopened the government, China's regulations had been implemented for a long time, and companies had long adapted to the new rules.
Some U.S. experts laughed and admitted that the U.S. reliance on rare earth in China was formed over decades and could not be solved by executive orders.
Trump previously always felt that China would only "passive counterattack", did not think that people left early "technology behind", in his most frightening time, shocked together.
This wave of operation, the United States again shouted "disconnect", I am afraid that no one believed - after all, its own military and industrial production line, is still waiting for China's rare-earth technology to "extend".
In the final analysis, China's rare earth technology control is not a temporary "retaliation", but an inevitable move to safeguard national security. The Ministry of Commerce has long said that some foreign forces use China technology for military applications, which has threatened our security.
Moreover, there is room for control, humanitarian relief is exempt, and compliance with trade is permitted, entirely in accordance with international rules.
But for the United States, which is caught in internal chaos, this is undoubtedly "the house leaks and it rains overnight".
Trump has not counted on the fact that China not only holds on to rare earth resources, but holds on to the technological lifeline more firmly, this hand "leaves the card", only to truly stamp on the "harm" of the United States.
Source of information:
World Wide Web-Ministry of Commerce Announcement No. 62 2025 Announces the Decision to Implement Export Controls on Rare Earths Related Technologies
The Ministry of Commerce responds to strengthening export controls on rare-earth related objects