China rare-earth export pause has been extended to 10 January 2027, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce, in Announcement No. 58, issued on 9 November, removing a cliff edge that was due to fall on Tuesday, 10 November.
According to TechTimes, citing Reuters reporting on the ministry’s statement, MOFCOM said on Monday, 9 November, that it will keep suspending its export controls from October 2025, pushing the end of the pause to 10 January 2027. The renewal covers rare earths, industrial diamonds and lithium-battery technology, according to Reuters.
The renewed suspension takes effect on 11 November and runs through 10 January, according to the Epoch Times, cited by TechTimes. The earlier suspension, under MOFCOM Announcement No. 70 of 7 November 2025, had been set to lapse at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, 10 November — the start of 11 November in Beijing.
What the pause covers
Announcement No. 70 suspended six October 2025 notices (Nos. 55, 56, 57, 58, 61 and 62) until 10 November 2026. According to TechTimes, the dormant rules would license lithium-ion cells at or above 300 Wh/kg, graphite anode material and synthetic-diamond wire saws, all of which would return to licensing if the pause ever ends.
Nos. 56 and 62 cover production equipment, raw materials and technologies for rare-earth mining, separation, metal production, magnet making and recycling, while No. 61 is an extraterritorial rule licensing foreign-made goods containing Chinese-origin rare earths at 0.1% of value or more.
The pause does not touch China’s April 2025 licensing regime, which covers seven heavy rare earths — samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium — and was never suspended, according to TechTimes.
Wider truce, unfinished paperwork
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on 23 September that the broader US–China trade truce would run to 10 January 2027, according to reports. MOFCOM said on 28 September that the wider arrangement would run to the same date, but that statement did not name export controls, rare earths or Announcement No. 70, according to legal-text reviews cited by TechTimes and Control Plane.
The US side has put part of its commitments on paper: the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security published a final rule on 9 November extending its own pause on a 50% ownership rule through 10 January 2027. Analysts quoted by TechTimes see a realistic possibility of a further extension in early 2027, but no jointly documented settlement on critical minerals exists, according to the Bloomsbury Intelligence and Security Institute.
Sources: TechTimes, 10 Nov 2026 (citing Reuters, Epoch Times); Control Plane, 6 Nov 2026, updated 9 Nov 2026; PipTheory, 9 Nov 2026; Rare Earth Exchanges / S&P Global, 10 Nov 2026 (MOFCOM Announcement No. 58)
