U.S. Treasury says rare-earths deal with China nearing completion

Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 11:05 UTC+01:00 (+0100), United States, Washington, D.C.

News category : Commodity and Currency Events

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said publicly on November 16 that negotiators hoped to finalise a framework deal with China on rare-earth minerals before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The reported framework would limit abrupt export restrictions and clarify licensing arrangements that had been raised as a trade-security flashpoint. Market participants took the comments as a constructive step for firms that rely on rare-earth magnets and processing — notably defence contractors and high-tech manufacturers — because greater legal certainty reduces the short-term premium tied to supply disruption. Analysts emphasised the deal would not eliminate structural concentration risks (China still supplies a large share of downstream processing), but it would materially reduce the chance of sudden export bans that force immediate supply shocks. Stocks in upstream miners and midstream processors rallied on the news as investors repriced geopolitical risk in industrial supply chains.

Overall market impact

Light bullish market impact - strength score : 68/100

Detailed breakdown of market impact over instruments, sectors, and asset classes

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Impacted instruments :

Critical-minerals equities and ETFs

Defense supply-chain contractors

Rare-earth miners and processors

Industrial metals futures

US-China trade-sensitive stocks

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