China just tightened the screws on steelmaking capacity, and futures immediately noticed. Rebar on the Shanghai exchange jumped after Beijing’s industry ministry floated a tougher “capacity swap” regime: new steel tonnage can only be built if at least 1.5x that amount is permanently scrapped (up from 1.25x under the 2021 rule).

The draft also reaffirms zero net additions in the most pollution-sensitive corridors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Fenwei Plain, and nudges mills toward lower-carbon routes such as electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) and hydrogen pilots fed by scrap.

European Union leaders are preparing to press China for better access to rare earths and critical minerals during a high-stakes summit in Beijing next month. The meeting, scheduled for July 24–25, will bring European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa to the Chinese capital for bilateral talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. The rare earth issue is expected to dominate the agenda.

The timing of the summit is significant. It marks 50 years of EU–China relations and comes just two weeks after a U.S.-imposed deadline for trade partners to finalize agreements to avoid higher tariffs. Since U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on April 2, China has tightened its export controls on key rare earth materials used in electric vehicles, defense systems, and renewable energy technologies.

HSBC has announced that it will halt commercial payments by its business customers to and from Russia and Belarus. This move comes as financial institutions continue to tighten restrictions beyond the sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.