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July 01, 2026
 

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RARE EARTHS

Annealed neodymium iron boron magnets in a barrel at a factory in China
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2025
Rare-earth producers look to U.S.-led boom to blunt China’s power
U.S. companies are working to expand supplies of the tiny but vital industrial components at the heart of a global trade showdown.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 23, 2025
Hopes for Xi-Trump summit dampened by tough Beijing moves and rising tension
Even if the talks get back on track, experts say a narrow deal on a few issues is the most likely outcome.
A sample of monazite, a mineral used in the rare-earth industry to extract elements such as cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium, is displayed at the Geological Museum of China in Beijing on Oct. 14.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2025
‘They can shut us down in two months’: Carmakers race China’s rare-earths curbs
Most motors that don’t rely on rare earths are years away, as are efforts to develop new rare-earth mines and processing plants outside China, industry experts say.
The U.S.-China trade war has escalated as both sides use economic leverage, with China asserting dominance over rare earths to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, while the U.S. seeks a collective global response and long-term strategy to reduce dependency on China's supply chains.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
This is what a real trade war looks like
China has leverage over trading partners every bit as powerful as what Trump seeks to wield.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 21, 2025
Trump and Australia’s Albanese sign critical minerals deal to counter China
The U.S. president also backed the AUKUS strategic nuclear-powered submarine deal with Australia to bolster security in the Indo-Pacific.
Magnetic slices made from rare earth metals. Beijing last week announced a sweeping set of rules that are set to restrict the flow of rare earths worldwide.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
China’s rare earth restrictions aim to beat U.S. at its own game
The impacts of the Chinese licensing system would be much broader than U.S. technology controls, which have targeted only more advanced computer chips.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato meet in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 16, 2025
Japan’s Kato calls for G7 unity over China’s rare earth curbs
“Japan is deeply concerned about these measures,” Kato told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, referring to China’s latest trade measures.
A Chinese trade delegation in Madrid for talks with its U.S. counterpart holds a news conference on Sept. 15. Rare earths, along with tariffs and other key issues, will define the next phase of the China-U.S. rivalry as both sides escalate tensions, vie for leverage and leave room for tactical negotiation.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2025
The Sino-U.S. economic cage match heats up
Notwithstanding momentary attempts at detente, the long-term path is toward competitive confrontation.
A barrel of annealed neodymium iron boron magnets prior to being crushed into powder in Tianjin, China, on June 11, 2010.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 15, 2025
China flexes superpower status using rare earths in global supply chain grab
The true impact is yet unknown but the move already has companies and policymakers considering countermeasures and alternative suppliers.
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up while boarding Air Force One, as he departs for Israel, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2025
Trump and Vance open door to China deal as trade spat drags on
Remarks by the two suggest that the U.S. wants to keep up the pressure on China to reverse its most recent trade moves, while trying to reassure spooked markets.
U.S. President Donald Trump addresses hundreds of American generals and admirals summoned to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, on Sept. 30.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Oct 12, 2025
Trump’s dealmaking diplomacy grows fragile as China fires back
The sudden, and unexpected, back-and-forth between the world’s two largest economies came just weeks ahead of a consequential meeting between the U.S. and Chinese leaders.
A container ship sails at the port in Qingdao, China, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 12, 2025
China blames U.S. for raising trade tensions and defends rare earth curbs
Beijing’s decision not to immediately respond to Trump’s opening salvo could leave the door open for both countries to negotiate a deescalation.
A worker waters the site of a rare earth metals mine in Nancheng county, in China's Jiangxi province, in January 2011.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
The world’s chip supply chain is bracing for fallout from China’s rare-earth curbs
The restrictions represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 11, 2025
Trump ratchets up U.S.-China trade war with new levies and export controls
The actions signaled the biggest rupture in relations in four months between Beijing and Washington — the world’s biggest factory and its biggest consumer.
A mine for heavy rare earth metals outside of Longnan in south-central China's Jiangxi province
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2025
China expands rare earths restrictions, targeting defense and chips users
The new curbs come ahead of a scheduled face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea at the end of October.
Magnetic slices made from rare earth metals at a factory run by the Canadian company Neo Performance Materials in Narva, Estonia, on Sept. 17. China is exerting its power over rare earth magnets as leverage in international trade.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 9, 2025
China tightens rare earth export controls, targeting defense and chips
China produces over 90% of the world’s processed rare earths and rare earth magnets.
A soldier from the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and his comrade cross a stream toward the front line in Laiza, Kachin state, in 2013.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 29, 2025
Trump team hears pitches on access to Myanmar’s rare earths
If the ideas are ever acted upon, Washington may need to strike a deal with the ethnic rebels controlling most of Myanmar’s rich deposits of heavy rare earths.
Marine biologist Teina Rongo on his boat passing the research vessel MV Anuanua Moana in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on June 12. Mining exploration has left many Cook Islanders such as Rongo fearing deep-sea mining could taint their precious ocean forever.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 23, 2025
The Pacific island nation that wants to mine the ocean floor
Research vessels roam the seas around the Cook Islands in search of deposits of battery metals, rare earths and critical minerals.
Polymetallic nodules — bulbous lumps of rock that are rich in battery metals such as cobalt and nickel which carpet huge tracts of Pacific Ocean seabed — in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on June 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2025
Trump’s critical minerals obsession reignites deep-sea mining
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order expediting U.S. licensing of seabed mining, departing from international law.
A rare earth smelting workshop near the town of Damao in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2010. China is the world's largest producer of such minerals.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 21, 2025
China quietly issues 2025 rare earth quotas, sources say
The quotas serve as a barometer for the global supply of rare earths, a group of 17 elements used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, robots and missiles.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

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