BEIJING — China took aim on Monday at a U.S. government program to reduce U.S. reliance on Chinese imports for rare-earth magnets, a move that risks reigniting trade tensions with President Donald Trump.

New restrictions will prohibit Chinese companies from shipping certain rare-earth metals to two companies that are leading the Trump administration’s efforts to revive the U.S. rare-earth industry.

The metals banned by China’s Ministry of Commerce are critical for a wide range of products, from cars to military drones, and China controls nearly the entire global supply of them.

After meeting in South Korea with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, in October, Trump said China had agreed to resume supplying rare-earth metals to the United States as needed. Chinese officials, however, never publicly described the agreement in such terms.

A follow-up summit between the two leaders in Beijing last month produced no further progress on rare-earth supplies.

At last week’s Group of 7 summit in France, leaders of the major industrialized nations pledged to reduce their dependence on any supplier, calling for no more than 60% of rare-earth imports to come from one country by 2030. The world relies on China for about 90% of its supply of so-called light rare earths, which are used in oil refining, glass polishing and magnet production.

China also refines more than 98% of the world’s heavy rare earths, which are crucial additives in magnets and are used in artificial intelligence computer chips, lasers and a wide variety of other technologies.

In April 2025, China imposed strict controls on the export of seven rare-earth elements, most of them heavy rare earths, as well as magnets made from them. Beijing classified the materials as dual-use goods, meaning they have both military and civilian applications.

The action by China on Monday barred 10 U.S. companies in all, including some with direct military ties, from purchasing additional dual-use products from China. On the list were the two largest U.S. rare-earth companies: MP Materials and USA Rare Earth.

The Trump administration, including the Department of Defense, has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into both companies to try to restore domestic rare-earth magnet manufacturing capacity, which mostly shut down a quarter-century ago.

MP Materials and USA Rare Earth declined to comment immediately on China’s announcement. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Keith Bradsher/Haiyun Jiang
c. 2026 The New York Times Company