MOFCOM & GACC Announcement [2025] No. 18
MOFCOM & GACC Announcement No. 18 of 2025: export controls on certain medium and heavy rare-earth-related items
商务部 海关总署公告2025年第18号 公布对部分中重稀土相关物项实施出口管制的决定
English title: project / third-party translation
Summary
China's Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs jointly imposed export licensing on seven medium and heavy rare earths — samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium — together with their oxides, alloys, compounds and mixtures, and related magnets. Exporters must obtain MOFCOM licenses; the measure is a licensing regime, not an outright ban.
Analytical significance
The opening move of the 2025 escalation, announced days after new US tariffs. Beijing targeted the medium and heavy rare earths where its separation monopoly is most complete, demonstrating chokepoint leverage while framing the step in standard control terms rather than as retaliation. These April controls have remained in force throughout the later expansion and suspension.
Instruments in this event
The separate financial commitments and control clauses this announcement contains, each with its own status history and evidence.
Framing anchors
Official framing, classified only from quoted passages.
为维护国家安全和利益、履行防扩散等国际义务EN to safeguard national security and interests and fulfil international obligations such as non-proliferation
Statutory justification clause of Announcement No. 18 (2025), from the MOFCOM primary. Pairs the national-security justification with the non-proliferation/compliance clause, the same framing as Announcement No. 46.
Affected materials
Related events
Events touching the same materials.
Sources (3)
MOFCOM/GACC Announcement No. 18 of 2025 (medium & heavy rare earths)
Primary sourceMinistry of Commerce (China)
Primary MOFCOM/GACC announcement (No. 18 of 2025) on export controls for certain medium and heavy rare-earth-related items; source of the verbatim Chinese justification clause.
https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zwgk/zcfb/art/2025/art_9c2108ccaf754f22a34abab2fedaa944.html
China Imposes Export Controls on Medium and Heavy Rare Earth Materials
Secondary analysisHolland & Knight LLP
Law-firm client alert summarizing the joint MOFCOM/GACC Announcement No. 18 (2025) of 4 April 2025 and the seven controlled elements.
https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/04/china-imposes-export-controls-on-medium-and-heavy-rare-earth-materials
China's Rare Earth Export Controls: Impacts on Businesses and Industries
Secondary analysisChina Briefing (Dezan Shira & Associates)
Running timeline of the April, October and November 2025 Chinese measures, used to corroborate dates, elements, and the suspension window.
https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-rare-earth-export-controls-impacts-on-businesses/
Citation
Cite this record
This cites the record — the project's coding of the instrument. For a claim about what a government actually did, cite the primary document itself; the sources above carry the canonical URLs.
Strategic Materials Policy Tracker. "MOFCOM & GACC Announcement No. 18 of 2025: export controls on certain medium and heavy rare-earth-related items." Record china-rare-earth-controls-2025-04, 2025-04-04. https://strategic-materials-policy-tracker.vercel.app/events/china-rare-earth-controls-2025-04