[Reuters Breakingviews] China's rare-earth lever is best used carefully

HONG KONG, June 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Beijing has shrewdly utilised its dominance of these critical minerals, in turn potentially winning a reprieve from US tech export controls. The next challenge is to show restraint - or risk the world accelerating efforts to ease its reliance on the People's Republic.

CONTEXT NEWS

U.S.-China trade talks are set to enter their second day in London on June 10, Reuters reported on June 9, citing a U.S. source familiar with the negotiations. U.S. President Donald Trump put a positive spin on the talks, saying that they were going well and he was "only getting good reports".

Separately, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on June 9 that the U.S. team wanted a handshake from China on rare earths exports. Asked about the Chinese objection to U.S. curbs on semiconductor exports, Hassett said: "Our expectation is that after the handshake, then immediately after the handshake, any export controls from the U.S. will be eased, and the rare earths will be released in volume, and then we can go back to negotiating smaller matters." He did not specify which export controls would be eased.

China has restricted the export of at least 16 minerals and related products since 2023, according to Reuters. In April it added seven rare earths to that list as part of its retaliation against hefty U.S. tariffs.