China Continues to Standardize Export Control Regime with New Restrictions on Rare Earth Magnets

Key Takeaways

• Recent updates to an export control catalog capped off an active year in Chinese rulemaking.
• The ban on exporting rare earth processing technology is unlikely to lead to dramatic disruptions in the global rare earth supply chain in the near term.
• However, Chinese companies’ control of much of the processing technologies for most of the world’s rare earth supply chains serves as a key source of leverage for the Chinese government in geopolitical disputes.