Thursday, June 12

The United States and China have finally come to an agreement on a deal that will see the US resume receiving rare earth minerals and magnets from the East Asian country.

US-China relations, which were already quite tense, quickly went downhill after Trump assumed the presidency, with the new leader beginning the implementation of tariffs on countries across the world. China announced that they would place reciprocal tariffs on the US, which sparked a trade war between the two countries. Trump continued raising tariffs to unprecedented levels, reaching as high as 145%-- this made it almost impossible for companies to buy anything from China without paying incredibly high prices.

However, China called his bluff, and he later brought the tariffs down to 30% after a truce was agreed upon last month. Nevertheless, China continued to block rare earth mineral and magnet supplies from reaching the US, which quickly became a huge issue.

Around 70% of the world's rare earth materials are mined in China, and the country refines 90% of the global supply. These parts are used in everything from renewable energy, specifically wind power; the automotive industry, especially motors for electric vehicles; magnets and other parts in different electronic devices; scalpels and MRI machines in the medical industry; defense satellites and aircraft; and much, much more. This means that China controls a massive amount of the world's manufacturing due to their command over rare earth minerals, and recent restrictions placed on the US and Europe by the East Asian country sparked concerns that they could throttle manufacturing all over the world.

Those concerns have been quelled, though, after Trump confirmed that he has agreed to a new deal with China. The deal was negotiated in London, where the two countries have been continuing talks over the last few weeks. It will ensure that China resumes supplying rare earth minerals and magnets to the United States for at least the next six months, and it also prohibits any sort of action preventing Chinese students from attending American universities.

The deal also includes a tariff hike from 30% to 55%, although the Trump administration has stated that this is just a combined amount of all of the tariffs from before. This 55% includes Trump's baseline 10% tariff on all countries, a 25% tariff on China that was set months ago, and an additional 20% tariff to prevent the spread of fentanyl from China to the US. Meanwhile, China will maintain a reciprocal tariff of just 10%.

While this does not guarantee safe passage for the minerals just yet, as Chinese President Xi Jinping is yet to sign off on the deal, it is anticipated to decrease tensions between the two countries. Despite this, those tensions are not expected to go away completely, meaning that the agreement will most likely bring US-China relations back to where they were before the trade war.

Fact of the Day (BBC): The average dinosaur lifespan was surprisingly small. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, for example, reached its adult size between 16-22 years old and lived up until 27-33 years old. The largest dinosaurs, like the Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus tended to live to between 39-53 years old, with the oldest reaching up to 70 years old.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): In the journey to success, tenacity of purpose is supreme.

(Aliko Dangote)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Debilitating (adj, dih-BILL-uh-tay-ting) - Debilitating is a formal word used to describe things that seriously impair strength or the ability to function.

In a Sentence: She suffers from debilitating migraines.