The US has hit China where it hurts by going after its telecom champion Huawei, but Beijing's control of the global supply of rare earths used in smartphones and electric cars gives it a powerful weapon in their escalating tech war.
A seemingly routine visit by President Xi Jinping to a Chinese rare earths company this week is being widely read as an obvious threat that Beijing is standing ready for action.
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However, analysts say China appears apprehensive to target the minerals just yet, possibly fearful of shooting itself in the foot by hastening a global search for alternative supplies of the commodities.
Better buy your new devices now...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 23 2019, @11:32AM (1 child)
Good and easy to win! Maybe China could put an export tax for Apple iPhones at 100% or 200% or do other arbitrary bullshit like Trump is doing. Two can play at that game.
The bottom line is that Trump is a fucking idiot
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 23 2019, @12:51PM
The trade war has hurt China's economy much more than ours.
The reason for this is the trade imbalance where we buy so much from China but they buy little from us... even after decades of "free" trade.
We can buy cheap stuff made in other poor countries. China is not special.