Trump Considering Auto Tariff Exemptions, White House ConfirmsPresident Donald Trump is considering potential tariff exemptions for automakers, a White House official confirmed to The Epoch Times on Wednesday, following weeks of intense lobbying by industry leaders warning of disruptions to supply chains and rising consumer costs.

The confirmation comes as automakers and suppliers voice growing concerns over the Trump administration’s 25 percent tariff on imported passenger vehicles and light trucks—effective April 3—and a similar 25 percent tariff on auto parts set to take effect by May 3. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents nearly all major automakers, has been a leading voice in the pushback. Alliance President and CEO John Bozzella warned that the new tariffs would ripple across the U.S. economy.

Trump has said the tariffs are a necessary tool to incentivize domestic production and address what he said were decades of unfair foreign trade practices. The administration has said that the policy is aimed at reversing the offshoring of automotive manufacturing and reviving industrial capacity at home. (More)

US Can Produce Rare Earths If China Stops Exports–But There’s a CatchIt could take up to five years to develop a domestic supply chain to supplant China’s global monopoly in processing rare earths into materials needed to produce everything from iPhones to F-35 fighter jets.

While the United States has most of the 17 rare earth elements and 50 critical minerals underground, it currently has no industrial capacity to refine them into processed metals and magnets, according to Melissa “Mel” Sanderson, American Rare Earths board member and Critical Minerals Institute co-chair. “Currently in the United States, we have zero magnet manufacturers,” Sanderson told The Epoch Times.

“I certainly hope, as the administration is working through this critical area—no pun intended, it’s a critical area—they realize there’s this vulnerability gap, a four to five year gap, no matter how you look at it, in terms of ramping up domestic production.” (More)

Amid Trade War, China’s Chokehold on US Medicine Moves Into SpotlightAs the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe in 2020, hospitals across the United States found themselves scrambling for masks, gloves, and other critical medical supplies. The crisis served as a wake-up call for the United States, despite being a global leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Politicians and health care leaders vowed to fix the dangerous overreliance on foreign-made medical supplies, a problem that had gone largely unnoticed.

Fast forward a few years and not much has changed. The Chinese regime’s iron grip on America’s supply of critical medicines has been years in the making, driven by Beijing’s strategic push to dominate key industries, systemic issues within the U.S. health care system, and a lack of decisive action in Washington to break this dependence, according to industry experts.

They argue that the pharmaceutical industry is different from the automotive sector, where the U.S. government knows it cannot afford to impose tariffs without a strategic plan—doing so would lead to severe supply shortages and price hikes. (More)