President Donald Trump is threatening higher tariffs on China again.
On Monday, he told reporters that the country must provide the US with the magnets that American car manufacturers need to keep their plants running.
An average US car carries about half a pound of magnets, while EVs need about a pound.
If China doesn’t increase the rare earth trade, ‘We have to charge them a 200 percent tariff or something,’ Trump said.
China has been sensitive about rare earth metals, including those used in magnets, since April.
The country put the metals at the top of its export restriction list in response to Trump’s then-145 percent levy. It had immediate consequences.
In June, before Trump announced a deal to restore rare earth magnet pipelines from China, Ford’s top executive, Jim Farley, stated that the automaker had to shut down some of its US plants due to a shortage.
‘It’s day to day,’ the CEO told Bloomberg News at the time.
Some US carmaking came to an abrupt stop in June when China throttled its magnet trade
‘We have had to shut down factories. It’s hand-to-mouth right now.’
Ford’s top bosses were the most vocal – but they weren’t alone, independent car industry analysts told the Daily Mail that other companies also temporarily shuttered US carmaking facilities because they ran out of magnets.
It wasn’t the first time American automakers faced a specific parts challenge. The last parts shortage helped hike car prices.
From 2021 through 2023, US automakers struggled to obtain enough computer chips to build cars, forcing them into rolling factory stoppages.
