BEIJING — China has formally extended its suspension of the sweeping October 2025 rare earth export controls for another two months, to January 10, 2027, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs announced on Monday, November 9 — one day before the one-year suspension was due to expire on November 10, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters (Lewis Jackson), via Canada Bulletin / U.S. News, Nov 9 2026
The legal instrument is Announcement No. 58 of 2026, which maintains the suspension of six earlier announcements, Reuters reported. The ministries stated it plainly: 'With approval, from November 11, 2026, to January 10, 2027, the implementation of Announcements No. 55, 56, 57 and 58 of 2025 issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs, and Announcements No. 61 and 62 of 2025 issued by the Ministry of Commerce will continue to be suspended.'
Source: The Profiler / Business Insider Africa, Nov 9 2026
What stays paused — and what never paused
The suspended package covers five more rare earth elements — holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium — plus rare earth processing technologies and equipment, certain lithium battery and graphite materials, industrial diamonds, and the extraterritorial rule for products manufactured abroad using Chinese rare earths, according to the ministry's announcement as reported by Reuters and The Profiler. What the extension does NOT touch is the separate April 2025 licensing regime on seven other rare earth elements, which was never suspended and remains in force: a factory still needs a Chinese licence for those exports today.
Source: The Profiler / Business Insider Africa, Nov 9 2026
Monday's formal notice follows last week's call in which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer pressed Vice Premier He Lifeng to implement the Busan commitments fully and immediately — the rare earth suspension is the legal half of that bargain, and until Monday its published expiry still read November 10. Read the earlier report: US presses China on Busan rare earth pledges
What is solid
- MOFCOM and Customs announced on Monday, November 9 that the suspension continues from November 11, 2026 to January 10, 2027 — ministry statement quoted by The Profiler; Reuters via Canada Bulletin
- Announcement No. 58 of 2026 keeps six 2025 announcements suspended (55, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62) — Reuters
- The April 2025 controls on seven other rare earth elements remain in force and were never suspended — The Profiler / RawMaterials
What is only claimed
- Whether a longer deal follows: the extension is temporary, not a cancellation — the controls stay on the books and can be re-activated after January 10, 2027 if talks fail
- How fully China is honouring the wider Busan pledges: US officials said in September Beijing was fulfilling only about two-thirds of its rare earth commitment, a claim China has rejected
From Busan to Shenzhen
The controls were first imposed in April 2025 and expanded in October 2025, then suspended for one year after Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea, in October 2025 and agreed a trade truce — capped US tariffs, Chinese soybean purchases and a pause on the new rare earth curbs. In September 2026 Beijing said the arrangement behind the pause ran to January 10, 2027, but the published suspension notice itself still ended on November 10; Monday's Announcement No. 58 is the step that aligns the legal text with that date. Trump and Xi are expected to meet again at the APEC summit in Shenzhen on November 18–19.
Source: Reuters (Lewis Jackson), via Canada Bulletin / U.S. News, Nov 9 2026
Rare earths are the choke point of modern manufacturing: the metals and magnets go into electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, electronics and defence equipment, and China dominates not just mining but the processing stages that turn ore into usable material. That is why a two-month paperwork extension in Beijing moves planning in factories from Detroit to Punjab's auto-parts belt: purchasing managers who faced a November 10 cliff now have until January 10, 2027 — but no certainty beyond it, and the US is still funding alternative projects in Africa and elsewhere to escape that dependence, Reuters reported.
Source: The Profiler / Business Insider Africa, Nov 9 2026
What happens next
Two dates now govern this file: the Trump–Xi meeting expected at APEC in Shenzhen on November 18–19, where a longer trade arrangement could be struck, and January 10, 2027, when the extended suspension expires. If no further agreement is reached by then, the October 2025 package — including its licence requirement for foreign-made products containing Chinese rare earths — can come back into force. Until then, the relief is real but rented, two months at a time.