US tariffs: how Trump’s tax is hitting Big Tech and beyond
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China announced export restrictions to the US on some rare earth minerals on April 4th in retaliation to Trump’s tariffs, and the New York Times has a deep dive on the limits set for rare earth magnets, 90 percent of which are produced in China:
If factories in Detroit and elsewhere run out of powerful rare earth magnets, that could prevent them from assembling cars and other products with electric motors that require these magnets. Companies vary widely in the size of their emergency stockpiles for such contingencies, so the timing of production disruptions is hard to predict.
The affected motors can be found in electric cars, drones, robots, missiles, and spacecraft, and to control steering in gas-powered cars, for example.
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