Tariffs Catch-All
- Thread starter BubbaOtis
- Start date
- Replies: 4K
- Views: 136K
- Politics
- Messages
- 23,462
FLASHBACK APRIL 4:
“China played it wrong, they panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do!” Trump on Truth Social.
- Messages
- 23,462
Elon Musk Warns Rare Earth Magnet Shortage May Delay Tesla’s Robots
China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.
Elon Musk Warns China’s Rare Earth Restrictions May Delay Tesla Robots
China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.
“… China this month suspended exports to any country of so-called heavy rare earth metals and magnets made from them, as part of its retaliation for President Trump’s increases in tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods. The Chinese government has stopped allowing shipments until it can devise an export license system.
China produces the entire world’s supply of heavy rare earth metals, from ore mined in China and Myanmar, and 90 percent of magnets made with these metals. Japan produces the rest of the magnets, but uses raw materials from China. …”
- Messages
- 6,187
You poor little bitch, you helped make this happen. STFU and accept the result of your stupidity. But as a consolation, you don't have to be concerned about trans women playing sports.Elon Musk Warns Rare Earth Magnet Shortage May Delay Tesla’s Robots
China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.
Elon Musk Warns China’s Rare Earth Restrictions May Delay Tesla Robots
China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.www.nytimes.com
“… China this month suspended exports to any country of so-called heavy rare earth metals and magnets made from them, as part of its retaliation for President Trump’s increases in tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods. The Chinese government has stopped allowing shipments until it can devise an export license system.
China produces the entire world’s supply of heavy rare earth metals, from ore mined in China and Myanmar, and 90 percent of magnets made with these metals. Japan produces the rest of the magnets, but uses raw materials from China. …”
- Messages
- 23,462
“… Cars, factory robots, missiles, smart bombs, stealth fighters and many other products also require rare earth magnets made partly with heavy rare earth metals.Elon Musk Warns Rare Earth Magnet Shortage May Delay Tesla’s Robots
China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.
Elon Musk Warns China’s Rare Earth Restrictions May Delay Tesla Robots
China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.
“… China this month suspended exports to any country of so-called heavy rare earth metals and magnets made from them, as part of its retaliation for President Trump’s increases in tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods. The Chinese government has stopped allowing shipments until it can devise an export license system.
China produces the entire world’s supply of heavy rare earth metals, from ore mined in China and Myanmar, and 90 percent of magnets made with these metals. Japan produces the rest of the magnets, but uses raw materials from China. …”
Yang Jie, an export control lawyer at Huiye, a Shanghai law firm, said that China’s regulations call for the Ministry of Commerce to make decisions on export licenses within 45 working days of the announcement, which was on April 4. The ministry is allowed to take longer if it decides that licenses are relevant to national security. …”
——
China has way more experience (and far fewer impediments) than a nascent wannabe dictator like Trump at how to pull authoritarian levers, though Trump is learning quickly.
- Messages
- 23,462
—>
- Messages
- 23,462
“… Factories are now more automated in China than in the United States, Germany or Japan. China has more factory robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers than any other country except South Korea or Singapore, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
… And as robots replace workers, automation positions China to continue to dominate mass production even as its labor force ages and becomes less willing to take industrial jobs.
… He Liang, founder and chief executive of Yunmu Intelligent Manufacturing, one of China’s top producers of humanoid robots, said China was striving next to turn robotics into an entire new sector of business.
…
“The expectation for humanoid robots is to create another electric car industry,” he said. “So from this perspective, it is a national strategy.”
Robots are replacing workers not just in car factories but even in China’s many thousands of back-alley workshops.
Elon Li’s curbside workshop in Guangzhou, the commercial hub of southeastern China, has 11 workers who cut and weld metal to make inexpensive ovens and barbecue equipment.
He is now preparing to pay $40,000 to a Chinese company for a robotic arm with a camera. The device uses artificial intelligence to observe how a worker welds the sides of an oven, and then duplicates the action with minimal human intervention. …”
- Messages
- 3,084
The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.” ~Warren Bennis
- Messages
- 3,200
‘We no longer felt welcome nor safe’: Canadian snowbirds cashing out of U.S. for good
The number of Canadian 'snowbirds' planning to sell their second homes in sunny Florida and Arizona has surged this spring, many of them put off by the sudden chill that has blanketed relations between their homeland and the U.S.
The number of Canadian “snowbirds” planning to sell their second homes in sunny Florida and Arizona has surged this spring, many of them put off by the sudden chill that has blanketed relations between their homeland and the U.S.
Real estate agents say they are seeing more Canadians cashing out, further softening property prices in warm-weather states that have long attracted retirees and tourists from cold and snowy Canada.
Canadians spent close to US$6 billion on U.S. real estate from April 2023 to March 2024 - making up 13 per cent of all foreign transactions - more than any other nationality, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Nearly half of the homes purchased by Canadians were for vacation purposes, with Florida, Arizona and Hawaii ranking as the top markets.
Last week, Tracy and Dale McMullen sold their vacation home in Buckeye, Arizona, a property they owned for five years. The Alberta residents, who usually spend four to five months in Arizona a year, said they are not planning to come back.
“We decided to sell the property after the current POTUS took office,” said Dale, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated for the second time in January.
“It was time to leave. We felt we could not trust what he might do next to us as individuals and to our country. We no longer felt welcome nor safe.”
Canadians are feeling stung by the actions and words of the Trump administration, which has imposed steep trade tariffs on its northern neighbor, threatening Canada’s export-dependent economy. Trump’s repeated suggestions that Canada should become a U.S. state, and his derogatory references to now-former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” have annoyed Canadians and offended their national pride.
As a result, many Canadians are boycotting U.S.-made goods, such as bourbon and produce and canceling trips to U.S. destinations.
Canadian return flights from the U.S. fell 13.5 per cent in March from a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada. Canadian-resident return trips by automobile fell about 32 per cent.
Real estate is now facing a similar pullback in demand.
Laurie Lavine, a realtor in Arizona who helped the McMullens with their sale, told Reuters that he currently has 18 listings from Canadians looking to sell, compared with the usual two to four per quarter.
- Messages
- 23,462
Concrete actions need to follow the calming assurances — if so, Trump might manage to benefit politically to some extent from the chaos he created. A lot of the same investors rebelling against his trade war and attacks on the Fed love his deregulation and tax cut agenda. There is a lot of unused capital out there that needs an outlet and a ton of suppressed M&A activity (though that will likely remain bottled up pending sufficient interest rate declines to de-risk the IRR of leveraged acquisitions).
The market may also get bursts of enthusiasm (however unwarranted) as term sheets or MOUs for trade “deals” with allies start to roll out. Indian, Vietnam and Japan may be among the first, though Japan seem to be settling in for a more drawn out process — they have quietly but publicly refused to proceed without the U.S. withdrawing misleading trade data (start from an agreed baseline representing actual trade balances, including services and excluding trade neutral domestic policies like VAT) and providing a concrete list of goals/demands as a starting point.
superrific
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 9,159
In related news, the rare earth magnet shortage will also be delaying full-self driving mode. Elon swears, if not for the dastardly tariffs, humanoid robots would be driving Teslas all around the country
lawtig02
Inconceivable Member
- Messages
- 4,162
This administration has been such a gift to China. I'm still very much in the camp that China is one of those enemies it's better to keep closer, but the reactionaries who now run this country have played into every single one of their traps.
1. You don't launch a trade war you can't win, and we can't win against China. Hence, the asskicking we're receiving.
2. You don't cede geopolitical influence to your chief geopolitical rival. Which is exactly what we're doing by pulling back from Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America, etc.
3. You don't alienate your primary suppliers for raw materials and goods needed to win the military and technology wars of the future.
Trump's brain is stuck in 1982. His advisors want to revisit 1938. But China is thinking about 2075. We (by which I mean the idiots who voted for Trump) deserve every bit of the humiliation we're receiving right now.
1. You don't launch a trade war you can't win, and we can't win against China. Hence, the asskicking we're receiving.
2. You don't cede geopolitical influence to your chief geopolitical rival. Which is exactly what we're doing by pulling back from Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America, etc.
3. You don't alienate your primary suppliers for raw materials and goods needed to win the military and technology wars of the future.
Trump's brain is stuck in 1982. His advisors want to revisit 1938. But China is thinking about 2075. We (by which I mean the idiots who voted for Trump) deserve every bit of the humiliation we're receiving right now.
superrific
Legend of ZZL
- Messages
- 9,159
I know it's not your fault -- when in Rome and all that. It's just borderline insane that this type of writing has become not just accepted but standardized and expected. And I'm not exactly a guy who shies away from abstract technocratic language when it's appropriate.
- Messages
- 23,462
Treasury chief Scott Bessent says U.S. has an "an opportunity for a big deal" with China
Treasury chief Scott Bessent says U.S. has an "an opportunity for a big deal" with China
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said he believes the Trump administration could strike a deal with China.
www.cbsnews.com
“… Bessent, who delivered the keynote address at the Institute of International Finance in Washington, D.C., today, said that the Trump administration wants the U.S. economy to rebalance toward more manufacturing, while urging China to shift away from what he called "export-led manufacturing growth."
… Bessent made it clear in his speech that the Trump administration wants to see changes in China's export-based economy.
"It's an unsustainable model that is not only harming China but the entire world," Bessent said in a Washington speech, stressing concerns around trade imbalances that Mr. Trump says he hopes to address through sweeping tariffs. …”
[Bessent went on to criticize the IMF and World Bank]