Last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce published a document that went by the name of “announcement No. 62 of 2025”.
But this wasn’t just any bureaucratic missive. It has rocked the fragile tariffs truce with the US.
The announcement detailed sweeping new curbs on its rare earth exports, in a move that tightens Beijing’s grip on the global supply of the critical minerals - and reminded Donald Trump just how much leverage China holds in the trade war.
China has a near-monopoly in the processing of rare earths - crucial for the production of everything from smartphones to fighter jets.
Not hard to find, but hard to properly leverage.
This is the result of a multi-year effort by China to insulate themselves from very specific retaliatory measures i.e. leverage the USA had over them, but not any longer.
Wild that China is the only one that learned from Trump in 2016, and prepare for what was coming.
Of course, most of that is what China’s been doing anyway for a couple decades, so that may be more coincidental.