China’s Ministry of Commerce placed 10 American companies on its export control list Monday, and its Finance Ministry excluded 46 more from government procurement contracts — retaliating for the Pentagon’s decision earlier this month to add Alibaba Group, Baidu, and automaker BYD to a list of companies it believes have aided China’s military.
The export controls prohibit dual-use goods from leaving China for each listed firm. Among those named: rare earth producers MP Materials Corp and USA Rare Earth, and drone companies Teal Drones and Jaia Robotics.
The Finance Ministry’s procurement exclusion covers 46 mostly defense-linked firms, barring them from bidding on Chinese government contracts. China exempts locally registered subsidiaries of affected companies operating within its borders.
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MP Materials operates the Mountain Pass mine in California — the only active rare earth mining and processing facility in the US — and USA Rare Earth anchors Washington’s push for domestic production. Both now face restricted access to Chinese dual-use exports, adding friction to the US strategy they’re meant to underpin.
Since a Trump-Xi summit in Beijing in May, both governments have continued exchanging restrictions — the US expanding entity lists, China responding with its own.
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Han Shen Lin, China country director at The Asia Group, told CNBC the move is “largely symbolic,” noting most listed companies do little actual business in China. The 1260H list that triggered Beijing’s response carries no automatic sanctions — it bars US government agencies from buying products made by listed Chinese companies, with that ban taking effect June 30.
