Overview

• Beijing defended new rare‑earth export rules as national‑security measures, saying exports with Chinese content above 0.1% need licenses and promising approvals for compliant civilian uses, alongside fresh controls on processing and magnet‑making technologies.
• President Donald Trump announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods and new curbs on critical software starting Nov. 1, later softening his tone while keeping the implementation timeline in place.
• China has not unveiled matching tariffs but warned of “corresponding measures,” matched U.S. port fees on cargo vessels from Oct. 14, and advanced actions including an antitrust probe into Qualcomm and additions to its unreliable‑entities list.
• Markets swung on the escalation, with U.S. and Europe falling Friday and Chinese shares sliding Monday, even as rare‑earth stocks rallied; China also reported stronger‑than‑expected September trade data with exports and imports both rising.
• Analysts warn supply chains for chips, AI hardware, EVs and defense are vulnerable given China’s dominance in rare‑earth mining, processing and magnets, and estimate it could take 5–10 years to replace processing capacity, raising the stakes for talks near the APEC summit.