China has announced tighter export controls on rare earths - vital elements used to make products such as consumer electronics, jet engines, magnets and advanced missiles.

The new Ministry of Commerce rules require foreign companies to obtain special approval to export items that contain even small traces of rare earth elements sourced from China, even if those products were made elsewhere by overseas companies.

China accounts for nearly 70 per cent of the world's rare earths mining. It also controls roughly 90 per cent of global rare earth processing.

The move by China comes ahead of a meeting in about three weeks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Access to rare earths has been a bone of contention between Washington and Beijing, with many American in

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