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June 07, 2025
 

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RARE EARTHS

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 28.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2025
Trump says China's Xi agreed to let rare earth minerals flow to U.S.
Trump's comment came one day after a rare call with Xi aimed at resolving trade tensions that have been brewing over the topic for weeks.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 7, 2025
Xi bets Trump detente leads to future wins on chips and tariffs
The Chinese leader hopes for tangible wins in the weeks and months ahead, including tariff reductions, an easing of export controls and a generally more civil tone.
A Mercedes-Benz production line in Rastatt, Germany, earlier this month. European auto suppliers alone have filed hundreds of requests to China for rare earths since early April, with only about a quarter granted.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
The world's auto supply chain is in the hands of a few Chinese bureaucrats
China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets — a crucial component in EV motors — and it added them to an export control list in April.
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China in 2010.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 4, 2025
Global alarms rise as China's critical mineral export curbs take hold
China has a stranglehold on minerals crucial for sectors ranging from aerospace to semiconductors.
A mining machine at the Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals in Inner Mongolia, China, in 2011
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2025
China’s rare earths grip gives Xi leverage in U.S. trade duel
For years, Washington was believed to have the advantage over China in the fight for technological dominance thanks to its grip on semiconductor supply chains.
The Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals, in Inner Mongolia, China.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2025
Carmakers warn China's rare-earth curbs could halt production
Auto executives are sounding the alarm on an impending shortage of rare-earth magnets from China that could force the closure of factories within weeks.
The site of a rare earth metals mine in China
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025
Rare earth production outside China 'major milestone'
Lynas' announcement illustrates how much more needs to be done to broaden the supply of elements critical for electric vehicles and renewable technology.
The Lynas Rare Earths processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
BUSINESS
May 18, 2025
Australian firm produces heavy rare earth, in first outside China
Beijing has banned the export of processing technology that could help rival nations, and has been accused of using state-imposed quotas to control supply.
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant to extract key minerals like dysprosium and terbium is being built with French and Japanese support — the first of its kind outside China. Its significance goes beyond the project itself.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 5, 2025
New rare earth plant shows strength of Japan-France cooperation
In France, a state-of-the-art rare earths plant is being built with French and Japanese support, showing the way for those who see the benefits of working together and not alone.
China's Bayan Obo rare earth mine in Inner Mongolia. As U.S.-China tensions strain critical mineral supply chains, Tokyo’s multipronged approach based on sovereignty, resilience and sustainability is gaining quiet relevance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 5, 2025
Japan's resource security path may hold answers to trade turmoil
Critical mineral supply chains are made vulnerable by China's dominance and U.S. protectionism. Japan's strategy may provide clues as to how to secure these vital resources.
An open-pit mine in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, on April 23. The financial payoff from the deal may take a decade or longer to materialize.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 2, 2025
U.S. and Ukraine may wait decade or more to see revenue from minerals deal
While the financial benefits from the deal are uncertain, officials in Ukraine believe it will help shore up U.S. support for Kyiv.
The United States and Ukraine signed a minerals deal on Wednesday, offering a measure of assurance to officials in Kyiv.
WORLD / Politics
May 1, 2025
U.S. and Ukraine sign resources deal after fraught negotiations
The signing ceremony on Wednesday concluded weeks of contentious negotiations and pulled the two countries back from a rift.
The Maersk Launcher, chartered by a seabed-mining company to explore the practices viability, returns from an expedition to the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean in June 2021.
WORLD
Apr 26, 2025
Trump moves to ramp up deep-sea mining for critical minerals
The move comes amid increasing concern over new Chinese curbs on the export of rare-earth materials.
Samples of rare earth minerals on display at the Molycorp Mountain Pass Rare Earth facility in California in 2015
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2025
Seven rare earth metals that China is weaponizing against the U.S.
China’s dominance of both mining and processing rare earth minerals means these niche metals have become a cudgel to use against opponents.
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu province, in October 2010.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025
China halts critical rare earth exports as trade war intensifies
The official crackdown is part of Beijing’s retaliation for President Donald Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs that started April 2.
A rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that taps the Cold War-era Defense Production Act as part of an effort to domestically process a range of critical minerals.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 21, 2025
U.S. moves to curb China’s grip on critical minerals
Trump invokes emergency powers for more U.S. mining, citing economic and security concerns.
U.S. President Donald Trump throws a pen after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 26, 2025
U.S. and Ukraine agree to terms of critical minerals deal
The latest version of the deal still doesn’t spell out specific security guarantees, though Ukraine sees it as a starting point toward that possibility.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a bilateral meeting at the Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka in June 2019. A Putin-Trump summit is on the horizon.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 20, 2025
Russian forces advance on Ukraine's critical minerals as Trump talks of a deal
The seizure of Kyiv's mineral wealth, while not the main war aim, is among Moscow's strategic goals, experts say.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shows a map of strategic resources and objects during an interview in Kyiv on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 8, 2025
'Let's do a deal': Zelenskyy offers Trump mineral partnership, seeking security
The U.S. president said on Monday he wanted Ukraine to supply the U.S. with rare earths in return for financially supporting its war effort.
Workers construct an array of solar panels for a floating photovoltaic solar energy farm near Cottbus, Germany, in August 2024.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2025
Red tape and rare earths: EU 'compass' charts economic future
The publication of the "competitiveness compass" aims to mark a change of tack toward a more business-friendly Brussels.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Trump and Musk trade barbs on social media as alliance crumbles
The trouble between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk started brewing days ago, when Musk denounced Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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