The original order, dated December 2024, prohibited “the export of dual-use items related to gallium, germanium, antimony, and super-hard materials to the United States” and imposed “stricter” controls on the sale of graphite products to the U.S. market.
On Friday, Beijing also suspended, for one year, other export control measures on strategic materials such as rare earths, lithium battery components, and industrial synthetic diamonds.
In retaliation for these measures, imposed on October 9, U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to impose additional tariffs of up to 100% on products coming from China.
The world’s two largest economies had agreed to suspend some of the restrictions they had imposed on bilateral exports, including China’s announced limitations on rare earths in October.
This was one of the measures that emerged from the latest meeting between Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in South Korea on October 30.
Chinese exports of rare earths surged 75% between September and October, ending three consecutive months of declines linked to the restrictions imposed by Beijing on the sale of these minerals essential to sectors such as defense and automotive.
Starting Monday, Beijing and Washington will also suspend the mutual port charges imposed on each other’s ships in October, amid the latest trade crisis.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the charges will be suspended for one year. In return, the United States will suspend investigations into the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors of the Asian giant.
The “special port charges” aimed at U.S. ships were announced on October 10 by the Chinese Ministry of Transport in response to a similar measure announced by the U.S. in April against Chinese ships.
Since October 14, China has applied additional tariffs for each trip to ships owned, operated, or flagged by America, as well as those built in the United States or belonging to companies with at least 25% American capital.
The charges being applied were $50 (about €43.20) per net ton to Chinese ships entering American ports and $56 to U.S. ships arriving in Chinese ports.
