China shipped 512 tons of rare-earth magnets to the US in August, a 21% slide from the prior month, according to the latest Chinese customs release. So far this year, monthly volumes are averaging about 504 tons, still under the 2024 pace of 621 tons before curbs were introduced. Shipments plunged in May last year but snapped back quickly. Rare-earth magnets, together with other rare-earth products, emerged as Beijing's biggest source of leverage in last year's trade talks with Washington.
Beijing put export controls on rare-earth magnets in April 2025 and later eased them. These magnets end up in cars, consumer goods and weaponry. Chinese customs data also show that direct exports of rare earths under export controls - including yttrium, dysprosium and terbium - have fallen compared with previous years.
On Thursday, Trump and Xi will meet in Washington, where they plan to set out how to handle a wide agenda - from trade to AI - and are expected to include critical minerals in the talks. The timing matters: the sit-down arrives before a November expiration of a US-China trade truce that includes Beijing's commitments to keep critical minerals moving by issuing more generous export licenses. People familiar with the matter say China is considering offering more rare earth export licenses as a trade sweetener, though they did not say what it would ask for in return. Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met China's Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York ahead of the leaders' talks.
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"Washington needs stability with Beijing to keep these critical inputs moving," wrote Chris Kennedy of Bloomberg Economics, who leads work on economic statecraft. "Yet periods of calm that restore access to lower-cost Chinese material weaken the urgency for the US to break its dependence on China." In May, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer gave Beijing a "passing grade" on maintaining flows of critical minerals, and in July Bessent said China should "fully meet its commitments."
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