US to Beijing: World Won't Be "Commanded or Controlled" on Rare Earths

The US Treasury Secretary delivered an unusually stark warning on Wednesday that countries worldwide may be forced to decouple their trade and supply chains from China if Beijing proceeds with sweeping new export controls on rare earth minerals.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer framed the Chinese initiative as a global threat to economic stability during a joint press briefing.

Bessent told reporters that Beijing's actions represented an unprecedented provocation. "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. We want to de-risk. But signals like this are signs of decoupling, which we don't believe China wants," he said.

The remarks came in response to China's announcement last week of strict new restrictions on rare earth exports, technologies and processing equipment, with many measures taking effect from 1st December.

The new controls require foreign entities to obtain licences from Beijing to export any products containing over 0. 1% of Chinese-sourced rare earths, even those manufactured outside China. The restrictions cover critical materials used in semiconductors, electric vehicles, defence systems and artificial intelligence applications.

China controls approximately 70% of global rare earth mining and roughly 90% of refining capacity, giving Beijing significant leverage over industries essential to the green transition and advanced manufacturing. Bessent emphasised that Washington was coordinating with European allies, Australia, Canada, India and Asian democracies on a unified response. "This is China versus the world," he said. "China is a command and control economy, and the United States and our allies will neither be commanded nor controlled. "

The Treasury Secretary dangled the possibility of extending the current 90-day tariff truce for longer than three months if China halts its export control plans. President Donald Trump had threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Chinese goods starting 1st November in retaliation for the restrictions.

Despite the harsh rhetoric, both Bessent and Greer expressed cautious optimism that Beijing would return to the negotiating table, with senior staff-level talks having taken place on Monday in Washington.