Sep 23, 2026 Kitco News

As Trump and Xi meet at the White House, rare earths are one of the biggest issues on the table. China’s one-year pause on its toughest rare earth export controls runs out in November, and America, the world’s second-biggest rare earth miner, still depends on China for the magnets inside electric cars, wind turbines and defense equipment.

China makes 94% of the world’s sintered rare earth magnets, according to the International Energy Agency. In April 2025, it put 7 rare earths behind export licenses. Shipments fell sharply, and some automakers cut production or temporarily shut down.

In this episode of This Week In Focus, Jeremy Szafron explains why mining alone doesn’t solve the problem, how China built its grip on refining and magnet making, what the Pentagon’s price floor at MP Materials’ Mountain Pass mine is designed to do, and why China’s central bank has kept buying gold for 22 straight months.

Reporting and data: International Energy Agency, US Geological Survey, World Gold Council, People’s Bank of China data reported by Kitco News, China customs data, Shanghai Gold Exchange and MP Materials