China has extended the pause on a set of critical-minerals and related export controls to 10 January 2027. In MOFCOM/GACC Announcement 2026 No. 58, dated 9 November 2026, the commerce ministry and customs said that, with approval, from 11 November 2026 to 10 January 2027 the listed 2025 announcements “continue to be suspended.”
That is an extension of a suspension, not a repeal. The underlying control notices remain on the books; exporters still have to work within China’s licensing system when those measures are in force, and MOFCOM’s accompanying commentary keeps licence applications in view even while listed measures stay paused.
Which 2025 notices stay paused
No. 58 continues the pause on MOFCOM/GACC 2025 announcements Nos. 55, 56, 57 and 58, and on MOFCOM announcements 2025 Nos. 61 and 62. Those packages cover superhard materials (No. 55), rare-earth equipment and raw and auxiliary materials (No. 56), medium and heavy rare-earth items (No. 57), lithium batteries and artificial graphite anode materials (No. 58), overseas rare-earth items (No. 61) and rare-earth technologies (No. 62). Nos. 56 and 57 were confirmed against their MOFCOM titles: No. 56 decides export controls on some rare-earth equipment and related raw and auxiliary materials; No. 57 decides export controls on some medium and heavy rare-earth related items.
The previous pause, under MOFCOM/GACC 2025 No. 70, had run to 10 November 2026. The new notice moves the end date to 10 January 2027 for the same list.
Tariffs and a separate entity-list pause
On the same day, the State Council Tariff Commission’s Announcement 2026 No. 6 said that from 13:01 on 10 November 2026, the 24% additional tariff on US goods stays suspended for two months, while the 10% additional tariff is retained.
A MOFCOM spokesperson Q&A tied a further step to “the consensus of the eighth round of China-US economic and trade consultations”: measures under 2025 Announcement No. 21 covering 16 US entities on the export-control list stay suspended for two months from 10 November 2026, with exporters still applying to MOFCOM for licences. That entity-list track is distinct from the minerals announcements in No. 58, even though both are framed as implementing consultation outcomes.
For readers following supply chains, the paused minerals package matters because rare earths, graphite anodes and lithium-battery items feed chips, EVs, drones and data-centre hardware—territory already covered in TSN’s EU–China rare-earth licence reporting, China’s proposed technology export-control catalogue and Taiwan’s AI-chip export-control debate. Those stories concern different instruments; none turns today’s pause into a price forecast.
A pause buys time; it does not retire the control list
Export-control diplomacy often moves by calendar rather than by deletion. Extending a suspension to 10 January 2027 keeps factories and traders operating under the previous interim rules while leaving Beijing able to restart the October 2025 packages without writing new lists from scratch. Calling the step an extension is therefore more accurate than calling it liberalisation.
Licence language still matters during a pause. Where MOFCOM says exporters continue to apply for licences on related tracks, the bureaucracy of permission remains part of the story even when particular announcements are not being enforced. Readers should separate three clocks in the 9 November package: the minerals notices paused until 10 January 2027; the 24% additional tariff suspended for two months from 13:01 on 10 November while 10% stays; and the 16-entity measures suspended for two months from 10 November under the eighth-round framing.
The useful next evidence is administrative, not speculative: whether the January date is rolled again, whether any of Nos. 55–58 or 61–62 return in amended form, and how licence practice is described once the two-month tariff and entity pauses lapse. Until then, China has bought a short, dated interval—not repealed the critical-minerals controls.
Sources
- MOFCOM/GACC Announcement 2026 No. 58, 9 November 2026
- MOFCOM spokesperson Q&A on export-control measures, 9 November 2026
- State Council Tariff Commission Announcement 2026 No. 6, 9 November 2026
- MOFCOM/GACC Announcement 2025 No. 70 (prior pause to 10 November 2026)
- MOFCOM/GACC 2025 No. 56 (rare-earth equipment and materials)
- MOFCOM/GACC 2025 No. 57 (medium and heavy rare-earth items)
Related stories
China’s proposed addition of 40 technologies to its export-control catalogue is the nearest MOFCOM counterpart: another control-list instrument, distinct from today’s dated pause on the 2025 minerals notices.
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