Kathrine Frich
Staff at the White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are raising alarms.
Behind the scenes of a global trade truce, a quiet battle is choking off the raw materials that power modern life.
The world’s biggest economies are meant to be playing nice, but the numbers tell a different story.
And one crucial component is suddenly in short supply.
The missing magnets
According to Bloomberg, customs data reveals a major shift. China is shipping significantly fewer rare earth magnets to the United States despite promises to keep trade flowing.
In the first half of the year, those exports dropped sharply. According to Ziare they fell about 20 percent below the average seen between 2022 and 2024.
This sudden drop highlights a glaring problem. Even though Washington and Beijing signed a high-profile trade truce, the flow of critical goods is slowing down.
Powering modern life
These magnets are not just niche scientific parts. From electric vehicles to factory automation and heavy defense equipment, they are the essential building blocks of modern industry.
China currently controls more than 90 percent of global production. Building a reliable new supply chain outside of Asia will take years, leaving American manufacturers in a difficult position.
American companies remain highly dependent on Beijing’s strict export controls, which first began tightening last April.
Behind closed doors
Staff at the White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are raising alarms. They argue the current arrangement is falling apart.
Yet, President Donald Trump and other senior officials seem hesitant to force a confrontation. According to insiders, they are reluctant to press the issue right now.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently stepped up to offer a blunt assessment of the situation. He said China’s compliance with rare earth requirements “has not been perfect.”
Looking at the data
Customs figures confirm the exact scale of the slowdown. Between 2022 and 2024, the United States imported an average of 586 tonnes every single month.
Now, that supply chain has shrunk. Monthly shipments in the first half of the year averaged just 479 tonnes.
And those numbers do not even tell the whole story. The statistics completely exclude any magnets shipped inside fully assembled products, masking the true scale of the deficit.
Sources: Bloomberg, Ziare.com
