China’s spy agency has accused overseas intelligence agencies of stealing controlled rare earth materials, reiterating its intent to curb smuggling even as Beijing agrees to review applications to export the vital industrial resource after trade talks with the US.

U.S. efforts to break China's dominance of the rare earths market and to drive investment in its own industry have moved up a gear with a Washington-backed plan to create a separate, higher pricing system.

China has been able to entirely cut off Europe and the U.S. from several critical rare earth metals. How did it develop such a stranglehold on an industry the U.S. once controlled?

Just four months into his tenure at the Pentagon, private equity billionaire Steve Feinberg has landed his first big deal: a $400 million bet on the US’s only miner of rare-earth elements, a key commodity in the rivalry with China.

The moves by Apple and the Pentagon are part of a broader U.S. push to nearshore rare earth supply chains. Earlier this year, President Trump proposed annexing Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory estimated to contain $4.4 trillion worth of rare earth reserves. Vice President JD Vance made a surprise visit in support of the plan.

In first half of 2025, exports reach US$6.7 million, which analysts view as sign of China’s bid to diversify access to strategic minerals.

Dust and groundwater contaminated with heavy metals and radioactive chemicals pose a health threat that the authorities have been trying to address for years.

China's rare earth export curbs disrupt India's electric vehicle (EV) ambitions, sparking urgent policy shifts and efforts to reduce dependency through domestic production and alternative sourcing.