China just rolled back sweeping export restrictions on critical minerals and rare earth materials heading to the U.S., marking the most concrete sign yet that the fragile trade truce between the world's two largest economies is actually holding. The surprise move lifts curbs on materials essential to everything from semiconductors to military hardware, potentially easing supply chain pressures that have plagued tech companies for months.
China's Ministry of Commerce delivered what amounts to an early holiday gift to U.S. tech companies Friday, announcing it would suspend export controls on critical minerals that have been choking semiconductor and defense supply chains since October.
The suspended restrictions, which Beijing first imposed on October 9, include limits on rare earth elements, lithium battery materials, and the processing technologies needed to refine them. But the bigger win for tech companies comes from China's decision to reverse the retaliatory curbs it slapped on gallium, germanium, antimony, and synthetic diamonds back in December 2024.
Those December measures were widely seen as Beijing's direct response to Washington's expanded semiconductor export restrictions, and they hit companies like Apple and Nvidia where it hurts most - their supply chains. Gallium and germanium are essential for producing the high-performance chips that power everything from iPhones to AI data centers.
"China classifies such materials as 'dual-use items,' meaning they can be used for both civilian and military purposes," according to the Ministry of Commerce statement. But in practice, that classification gave Beijing enormous leverage over U.S. tech companies that depend on these materials for consumer electronics and data center infrastructure.
The export relaxations follow direct talks between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on October 30. Those discussions apparently broke through months of escalating tit-for-tat trade measures that had industry analysts predicting a full-scale supply chain crisis heading into 2025.
China's dominance in critical mineral production can't be overstated - the country controls roughly 60% of rare earth mining globally and an even larger share of processing capacity. Beijing has increasingly weaponized these export policies during trade disputes, creating headaches for companies like Tesla that need lithium for battery production and Samsung for its semiconductor operations.