China confirmed that its suspension of export controls on rare earths will extend to the EU, the bloc’s trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said early Saturday after high-level talks with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Friday. Beijing agreed this week to delay its latest round of rare earth export restrictions for one year, following a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday. This prompted the EU to swiftly seek assurances that the suspension would also cover the bloc. “China confirmed that the suspension of the October export controls applies to the EU,” Šefčovič wrote on X. “Both sides reaffirmed commitment to continue engagement on improving the implementation of export control policies,” he added. China has tightened its grip on critical minerals, expanding export controls on rare earths and other materials vital to the clean-tech and defense industries. The EU, which relies on China for about 99 percent of its rare earth supply, has been scrambling to reduce its dependency. “The EU welcomed China’s 12-month suspension of the relevant export controls published on 9 October 2025,” European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in a statement. “This is an appropriate and responsible step in the context of ensuring stable global trade flows in a critically important area.”

BRUSSELS — Brussels and Beijing will discuss China’s recent restrictions on exports of rare earths and magnets next week, the European Commission said on Friday. “We can confirm that both in-person and virtual high-level technical meetings will take place next week,” trade spokesperson Olof Gill told reporters. The talks will not include Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič or his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao just yet. “Teams will engage under the Export Control Dialogue which was upgraded after EU-China summit in July,” Gill added. It is unclear if restrictions on chips will also be discussed. Germany Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Friday postponed a trip to China due to start next week. Beijing’s export controls came up in the talks during Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders, according to two EU officials, with some leaders expressing their concerns. One said the EU’s most powerful trade weapon, the Anti-Coercion Instrument, was mentioned, but didn’t garner much interest around the table. The EU, which imports many of its critical raw materials, almost all rare earths and permanent magnets from China, is caught in the crossfire between Beijing and the Trump administration in the U.S. “A crisis in the supply of critical raw materials is no longer a distant risk,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this week in a speech to European lawmakers.

BRUSSELS — As Beijing further weaponizes its control over the flow of minerals that Western countries need for their green, defense and digital ambitions, Europe has to face an uncomfortable truth: It won’t escape China’s dominance anytime soon. The Chinese government’s shock imposition earlier in October of sweeping export controls on rare-earth magnets and the raw materials needed to make them has escalated a running trade feud with the United States. The embargo threatens vast — and rapid — collateral damage on the European Union and has forced its way onto the agenda of a high-level summit on Thursday. “A crisis in the supply of critical raw materials is no longer a distant risk. It is on our doorstep,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a pre-summit speech to European lawmakers. “Now, we must accelerate decisively and urgently. We need faster, more reliable supply of critical raw materials, both here in Europe and with trusted partners. I will be ready to propose further measures to ensure Europe’s economic security and I will accelerate what we have already put in motion.” Beijing’s announcement this month drew a fierce rebuke from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to hike tariffs on Chinese goods to 100 percent. Trump is due to hold a high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit at the end of October. The EU, which imports nearly all of its rare earths and permanent magnets from the Middle Kingdom, is caught in the crossfire. “We have no interest in escalation,” Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade chief, told reporters Tuesday. “However, this situation casts a shadow over our relationship. Therefore, a prompt resolution is essential.” China and the EU will “intensify contacts at all levels” on the issue, Šefčovič added. Wang Wentao, the Chinese trade minister, has accepted an invitation to come to Brussels in the coming days to discuss the restrictions, Šefčovič said after a two-hour call between the two. The EU is also consulting with the G7 group of industrialized nations on a coordinated response on critical minerals ahead of an Oct. 30-31 ministerial meeting in Canada. Yet, behind the talk of adequate diplomatic responses and potential retaliation there is no escaping the dominance in rare earths that China has built up over decades. For now at least. “In the short term there’s nothing you can do, except try and negotiate with the Chinese,” said Philip Andrews-Speed, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.  HIT WHERE IT HURTS Beijing dominates the entire supply chain of rare earths — a group of 17 minerals used in permanent magnets found in everything from electric vehicles and wind turbines, to F-35 fighter jets and naval vessels. Under its new export controls, importers will need a government license to access not only those permanent magnets, but also the refined metals and alloys that go into them. China already weaponized its leading position in producing and refining critical raw materials — and specifically rare-earth elements like scandium, yttrium and dysprosium — in response to Trump’s first wave of punitive tariffs back in April. Eventually, the White House caved in. This time, again, the Chinese export controls are “a tit-for-tat for U.S. policy,” said a person from the Chinese business sector, granted anonymity to speak candidly. The EU is being hit, too: “The effects are direct and enormous, particularly for the defence sector,” Tobias Gehrke and Janka Oertel of the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote in a commentary. “The EU defence industry risks grinding to a halt as inventory shortfalls could leave it struggling to produce and deliver enough weapons for the war in Ukraine.” China accounts for 61 percent of rare earths extraction and 92 percent of refining, according to the International Energy Agency. It provides nearly 99 percent of the EU’s supply of the 17 rare earths, as well as about 98 percent of its rare earth permanent magnets. UNDERDOG DIPLOMACY  In addition to its minerals monopoly, Beijing has built a legal foundation to capitalize on it — through an export control toolbox that mirrors the one Washington has used to cap exports of leading-edge technology to China. The EU lacks a comparable armory that would allow it to respond in kind. Whereas export controls are now a go-to option in Washington’s and Beijing’s trade negotiation strategies, to Brussels, protecting national security remains the sole legitimate justification to deploy such measures.  “The EU will need to find a way to live in this new reality,” said Antonia Hmaidi, senior analyst at think tank Merics, adding that the bloc may have to give up its belief in the rules-based trading system that characterized the post-World War Two era. “It could also mean that the EU chooses not to play that game, but then the EU needs a different game to play,” she said, adding that weaponizing EU market access could be a powerful alternative. Ahead of Thursday’s summit, calls are growing to ready the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), the only trade policy tool the EU can wield against economic coercion. Working mostly through deterrence, the bloc’s so-called trade bazooka seeks to prevent foreign powers from pressuring European countries — but only foresees action as a last resort. “It’s the usual sabre rattling from the usual subjects, but activating the ACI is not seriously under consideration at this stage,” said one EU diplomat, who was also granted anonymity. Asked whether the EU executive is looking at the ACI, the Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson Olof Gill said: “Right now we’re focused on engagement, and we’re not going to go down the road of speculating about any other possibility.” That engagement is delivering scant results. In June, Beijing agreed to set up a “green channel” for European companies to speed the approval of export licenses. And yet, Šefčovič said, only half of the 2,000 priority applications submitted by European companies to the Chinese authorities had been “properly addressed.” CATCHING UP  Moving forward, the EU needs to dramatically ramp up its diversification efforts. At a meeting with industry leaders on Monday, Industry Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné said the EU’s response must build on two pillars, according to his cabinet: a diplomatic solution and a more resilient supply chain. China accounts for 61 percent of rare earths extraction and 92 percent of refining, according to the International Energy Agency. | VCG/Gett Images That, however, won’t happen overnight. Especially since the EU executive unveiled its grand plan to diversify its supply of raw materials away from China two years ago, officials have been stressing the need to stockpile more of the metals and minerals, ramp up domestic mining and production and seal new partnerships. But concrete action is still lagging, with experts and industry alike lamenting the lack of funding being put on the table. James Watson, director general at metals lobby Eurometaux, welcomed the EU executive’s decision to award “strategic project” status to some 60 mines and refineries inside and outside the bloc, but added: “We still need dedicated funding for the sector, as well as addressing structural issues, such as higher energy costs and heavier administrative burdens, that put as at a competitive disadvantage compared with our global competitors.” Camille Gijs and Koen Verhelst contributed reporting.

BRUSSELS — China and the EU will “intensify contacts at all levels” on Beijing’s expanded export controls on critical raw materials and magnets, the EU’s Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič told reporters on Tuesday. Wang Wentao, the Chinese trade minister, has accepted an invitation to come to Brussels to discuss the restrictions, Šefčovič said after the two talked on a call earlier. “Our discussion lasted almost two hours,” he told press briefing in Strasbourg. “And at the conclusion of this discussion, I invited the Chinese authorities to come to Brussels in the coming days to find urgent solutions. Minister Wang Wentao has accepted this invitation.” Beijing earlier this month expanded the list of materials and products for which importers have to request export licenses. Rare earths and magnets, the bulk of this round of restrictions, are essential in any electrification process. Šefčovič said EU companies had submitted around 2,000 “priority applications” to the Chinese authorities, while only half of them “were properly addressed.” He added that he had reupped the lists with Wang. “We have no interest in escalation,” the trade commissioner told reporters. “However, this situation casts a shadow over our relationship. Therefore, a prompt resolution is essential.” In a sign of the seriousness of the supply crisis, the European Commission said in its annual work programme for 2026 on Tuessday that it would start stockpiling critical raw materials that are vital to industries from defense to carmaking. Max Griera Andreu contributed to this report.

LONDON — The U.K., Canada and the EU are mulling a coordinated response at the G7 level to China’s expansion of export controls on critical minerals at a key meeting at the end of this month. With Canada due to host G7 ministers in Toronto at the end of October, the allies are seeking to accelerate efforts to diversify away from Beijing’s dominance in the rare-earth sector.  This comes after Beijing last week announced new restrictions on foreign access to rare-earth magnets and the refined metals and alloys needed to make them over national security concerns. The move immediately raised alarm from the EU and G7 allies over supply chain security for technologies ranging from electric vehicles and wind turbines, to F-35 fighter jets and naval vessels. China mines about 60 percent and processes about 90 percent of the world’s rare-earth metals.  Ministers from the G7 are “putting our shoulders to the task, buckling down and trying to get as many concrete steps taken as we can to create alternatives for the critical minerals that have been put on export restrictions,” Canadian Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson told POLITICO in an interview Thursday at the end of a three-day trip to London. “We had a meeting with the G7 envoys on critical minerals while I was here, all working towards further development of a coordinated, multilateral approach to dealing with the recent restrictions,” Hodgson said. “We’re working on those as we speak and we’ll hopefully have some announcements by the time we get to the minister’s meeting in Toronto at the end of the month.” The move immediately raised alarm from the EU and G7 allies over supply chain security for technologies ranging from electric vehicles and wind turbines, to F-35 fighter jets and naval vessels. | AFP via Getty Images According to one EU official briefed on the G7 discussions, the Canadians are working on a term sheet of measures to accelerate stockpiling, activate critical mineral partnerships, and build out mining activities in a more concerted approach. EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič this week urged the G7 to respond jointly. Šefčovič is expected to discuss the matter with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao early next week.  The European Commission is seeking to foster coordinated measures against Beijing’s curbs, two other Commission officials told POLITICO. One of them said the EU executive would launch a study of the impact of the new bans on EU industry early next week.  “It’s coercion. We need to see how we will respond,” said the other Commission official, who like the others cited in the story was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive discussions. CODEPENDENCY RISK China’s export curbs triggered an escalatory threat from President Donald Trump to hit Beijing with 100 percent tariffs. While Washington has since scaled back the confrontation, top U.S. officials are also drawing the consequences of Beijing’s lockdown on critical minerals. “China’s actions have once again demonstrated the risk of being dependent on them, on rare earths, and for that matter, anything,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “If China wants to be an unreliable partner to the world, then the world will have to decouple. The world does not want to decouple.” China’s export curbs triggered an escalatory threat from President Donald Trump to hit Beijing with 100 percent tariffs. | Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images Hodgson and Canadian Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin will host their G7 counterparts from top global economies, including the U.S., Japan, Italy, Germany, the U.K. and France, in Toronto from Oct. 30-31. Beijing’s new restrictions are an “amping up” of curbs on critical minerals China has announced this year, Hodgson said. G7 allies, he added, are working on “a number of actual contracts” with private sector firms that they hope to announce at the Toronto meeting. The G7 is encouraging international firms and other countries to use financial tools to increase global supplies of critical minerals. “That would include things like stockpiling agreements, that would include things like off-take agreements, that would include things like potentially contract for differences on critical minerals,” Hodgson said. Ottawa is working to implement these “in real terms” following the June G7 leaders meeting in Canada, where Prime Minister Mark Carney proposed a critical minerals buying group, Hodgson said. “Canada is a potential supplier of many of those critical minerals.”  Securing supply chains of critical minerals is playing an increasingly vital role in geopolitics as China tightens the tap on supplies. The U.K. renewed trade talks with Greenland this month, promising to secure critical minerals supply chains. And in Mumbai last week, Britain’s Keir Starmer and India’s Narendra Modi buckled down to collaborate on downstream processing and research projects to “strengthen and diversify critical mineral supply chains.” During his stay in London, Hodgson met U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Britain’s critical minerals envoy, Industry Minister Chris McDonald. “We believe that multilateralism is the way to counter non-market activities by certain states,” Hodgson said, advocating for multilateralism in response to China’s crackdown. “We don’t believe using trade as a tool of state manipulation is in anyone’s interest.” Graham Lanktree reported from London, Camille Gijs and Bjarke Smith-Meyer from Brussels and Clea Caulcutt from Paris. Doug Palmer and Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.