Trump stomps feet, pulls out 't-word' again over China rare earths ban

world war fee The Chinese lockdown on rare-earth minerals has drawn the ire of President Trump, who is threatening crushing tariffs if the Middle Kingdom doesn't cough up more rare earths.

"They have to give us magnets," Trump told reporters on Monday. "If they don't give us magnets, and then we have to charge them 200% tariff or something, you know, but we're not gonna have a problem.

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"We have tremendous power over them, and they have some power over us. With magnets, we're going to have a lot of magnets in a pretty short period of time. But with that being said, I think we have a great relationship."

In April, peeved by US tariffs, China banned the export of samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium, which might sound like a Tom Lehrer song but is less funny. These are key ...