OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:16 AM – Friday, October 10, 2025
China restricts rare earth exports, prompting Trump to vow strong response, reigniting trade tensions
President Donald Trump suggested that he may cancel his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, after Xi sent what Trump described as “hostile” letters indicating China’s plans to restrict exports of rare earth minerals.
President Trump issued a lengthy Truth Social post on Friday, revealing that he is looking at imposing a “massive increase” in tariffs on Chinese products — potentially reigniting a trade war with America’s most prominent adversary.
“Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China. Nobody has ever seen anything like this but, essentially, it would ‘clog’ the Markets, and make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World, especially for China,” Trump wrote.
“This is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the ‘Magnets’ and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position, a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least. But the U.S. has Monopoly positions also, much stronger and more far reaching than China’s.”
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The president added that he had been scheduled to meet with President Xi in two weeks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, but remarked that “now there seems no reason to do so.”
“Dependent on what China says about the hostile ‘order’ that they have just put out, I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move,” Trump continued, suggesting a potential economic counter.
“For every Element that they have been able to monopolize, we have two. I never thought it would come to this but perhaps, as with all things, the time has come. Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing, in the end, for the U.S.A. One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America. There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration,” Trump added.
China’s latest move highlights its readiness to leverage its near-monopoly on rare earth minerals and magnets — critical components for electronics worldwide — as a tool of geopolitical influence.
On Thursday, the Chinese government announced expanded export controls on several rare earth elements, specifically holmium, erbium, thulium, europium, and ytterbium. These materials, essential for advanced technologies ranging from fiber-optic communications to quantum computing, will now require export licenses — underscoring China’s strategic control over the global supply chain.
A Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson announced that the move was out of concern for national security, writing: “Rare-earth-related items have dual-use properties for both civilian and military applications. Implementing export controls on them is an international practice.”
Rare earth items are also critical to the U.S. defense industry, electric cars, household appliances, lithium batteries, and camera lenses, among others.
Wall Street responded to the potential reignition of trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, as the S&P 500 fell by 2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3%, while the Nasdaq composite was down 2.6%.
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