US tariffs action on China. It's not just Ev's now subject to...

US tariffs action on China. It's not just Ev's now subject to new tariffs - the latest US trade restrictions also includes new 25% import tariff on permanent magnets in 2026, and 25% on critical minerals (not including REs though) in 2025.


By continuing to avoid imposing tariffs on rare earth minerals, the US is obligingly signaling to China it's chronic weakness/exposure over RE supply chains.


China has previously raised its own import tariffs on US rare earth minerals for refining in China in retaliation to a wide range of US tariffs imposed by Trump.


I'd be amazed if China didn't do the same again now. It's in a very strong position to squeeze the US and EU by restricting NdPr magnet grade raw metal exports, hiking its own import tariffs for non-China mined rare earths which still have to be refined in China, preventing the export of RE refining and processing equipment/technology/IP to US and EU, and introducing punitive export embargoes on shipment of NdPr permanent magnets to the West. Only Japan, Germany, France and US have permanent magnet manufacturing and they all depend on China for the pure NdPr powders.


China can survive for many months/years even, just producing EVs and wind turbines for its internal market, but also has the non-US/EU world markets of Africa, Asia-Pacific, Middle-east, India etc. It has also stockpiled quite a lot of RE's/gold for a rainy day. It has an ongoing programme to develop factories in 3rd-party countries like Mexico which will be able to export to the US. It also is investing in many off-shored partnership/co-operative projects to build basically Chinese-sourced infrastructure projects in the tariff-imposing countries themselves - eg: the JLR battery mega-factory at Taunton.


I don't think it's going to be very long now until we'll see China mobilizing its RE economic warfare a(rs)enal against the West.
HUGE % rise in NdPr metals and magnets coming down the line??

(IMHO- DYOR- This is not investment advice, etc etc)