World Business Report US-China trade tensions may benefit South East Asia
The countdown continues to trade deals with Washington. Ahead of President Trump's threatened tariff hikes next month, we're hearing from South East Asia, and looking at complaints that Chinese firms may be dumping goods, undermining regional economies.
Also in the show, the disruption to aviation from the Iran-Israel conflict.
And why Chinese officials are being ordered to drink less?
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The Sun
13 minutes ago
- The Sun
Trump ‘considering bombing Iran' & says he ‘knows exactly where the Ayatollah is hiding but won't kill him… for now'
DONALD Trump is reportedly considering joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites hours after he sent a direct warning to the Ayatollah saying he is an "easy target". Trump claimed the US and Israel know exactly where Iran 's Supreme Leader is hiding out but he won't order any assassination plot "for now". 5 5 5 Israel threatened Khamenei hours earlier saying he will face the same grisly fate as Iraq's Saddam Hussein who was hanged by his own people if he doesn't start to negotiate soon. The threat of regime change came after Trump demanded a "real end" to Iran's nuclear programme which is the root of the ongoing conflict. And the US president cranked up pressure on the evil mullah's crumbling reign by firing a warning as he moved the might of America's war machine towards the war zone. The US leader called for an "unconditional surrender" in a trio of Truth Social posts as he told Tehran they have lost complete control of the skies after five days of Israeli airstrikes. He is now said to be considering allowing for a US strike on Iran, according to multiple current and former administration officials. The conversation is said to have been top of the agenda during a National Security Council at the White House. America's involvement in the Middle East has been widely speculated in the past 24 hours with Trump even ditching the G7 summit on Monday as he urged Tehran to evacuate "everyone". The president is said to have rushed back to Washington to convene a meeting in the White House Situation Room over Iran today. He has refused to specify the endgame, but has ominously warned: "You're going to find out over the next two days." But two Israeli officials have told Axios they believe Trump is likely to enter the war in the coming days. It follows Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz saying Khamenei should "remember what happened to the dictator in the neighbouring country" - directly referring to the death of Saddam Hussein. Fanatical Islamist terror stoker Khamenei, 86, and his family are believed to have bolted to a fortified underground hiding place in a suburb of capital Tehran. He went to ground after swathes of military top brass and nuclear scientists were wiped out in in simultaneous surgical strikes at the start of Israel's Operation Rising Lion on Friday. Israel has started to boast it is "on the verge of destroying" at least ten nuclear targets in Iran and could soon attack the mountain-fortress Fordow facility. The nuclear watchdog confirmed for the first time today it had detected "direct hits" on the key underground enrichment zone of Iran's Natanz nuclear site. Israel and Iran have continued to trade missiles today, with Tehran's civilians fleeing the city in their thousands and a handful of casualties reported by Tel Aviv. The IDF said it has killed Iran's most senior military commander - and the person closest to the Supreme Leader - for the second time in five days. Iran claimed it had hit the HQ of Israel's intelligence agency Mossad - though this has not been confirmed - and repeatedly warned of stepping up missile and drone attacks. Tension across the Middle East is now skyrocketing as the conflict threatens to spiral into a wider regional war after Pakistan called for the Islamic world to back Iran. Islamabad even warned they will nuke Israel, a senior Iranian general claimed. 5 Stay up to date with the latest on Israel vs Iran with The Sun's live blog below... By WATCH: IDF destroys two of Iran's last remaining Tomcat jets The IDF has released dramatic footage of it blowing up two of Iran's last-remaining F-14 Tomcats. These are iconic US-made fighter jets worth tens of billions of dollars. The destruction of these two deals another hefty blow to Iran's fast-dwindling defence capabilities. RECAP of Our Recent Operations Over Tehran: 🛫 Strike on two F-14 fighter jets that were located at an airport in Tehran. These jets were intended to intercept Israeli aircraft. ❌ Thwarted a UAV launch attempt toward Israel. 🎯 Eliminated a launch cell minutes before launch… — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 16, 2025
Reuters
21 minutes ago
- Reuters
Battery makers sweat as antimony shortage hits after China's export curbs
MELBOURNE, June 18 (Reuters) - When China restricts exports of a key mineral, sometimes the pain is sudden and even crippling - enough to spur a major outcry almost immediately. Other times, it takes longer to be felt. For the world's makers of lead-acid batteries, China's restrictions on critical mineral antimony that were put in place late last year have become a major headache - one that their customers also now have as sky-high procurement costs are passed on. "We consider it a national emergency," said Steve Christensen, executive director at the U.S.-based Responsible Battery Coalition, whose members include battery maker Clarios, Honda (7267.T), opens new tab and FedEx (FDX.N), opens new tab. He noted the key role batteries play in industry and civilian life, how antimony is used in military equipment, as well as the surge in spot prices. Antimony now costs more than $60,000 per metric ton, having more than quadrupled over the past year. "There are no quick solutions... We were completely caught off guard collectively, as an industry," he said. China likely produced 60% of all antimony supply in 2024, according to the United States Geological Survey. Much of antimony mined in other countries is also sent to China for processing. Beijing added the mineral to its export control list last September, requiring companies to gain licences for each overseas antimony deal. It then followed up in December with an outright ban on shipments to the U.S. - an action seen as retaliatory after Washington further restricted exports of advanced semiconductors to Chinese companies. China's global exports of antimony are now just a third of levels seen this time last year. Christensen said U.S. companies are hugely reliant on China for their supply of antimony and buyers are increasingly having to procure from an emerging "grey market", where sellers that have stocked up on the material are charging extremely high prices. China's restrictions on antimony precede its controls on rare earths and rare earth magnets that were imposed in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and do not appear to have been discussed in last week's efforts to stabilise a truce in trade tensions between the two countries. Last week's talks between China and the U.S. also did not include any agreement on specialised rare earths such as samarium needed for military applications. Lead-acid batteries, commonly found in gasoline-engine vehicles, are mostly used to start the engine and to power low-voltage instruments. They are also used as sources of backup power in various industries and to store excess energy generated by solar and wind systems. In addition to batteries, antimony is also essential to military equipment such as night vision goggles, navigation systems and ammunition. Overall antimony demand is some 230,000-240,000 tonnes a year with lead-acid batteries accounting for about a third of that, according to consultancy Project Blue. While many battery makers may have access to antimony-lead alloy from recycled materials, Project Blue estimates they collectively need around 10,000 tonnes a year of higher purity antimony to top up the alloy to reach the right battery properties. Securing that additional portion could be challenging. Project Blue director Nils Backeberg said there is enough antimony outside China to satisfy non-Chinese demand but buyers need to compete with Chinese purchasers such as the country's huge solar industry, and China's smelters are able to offer better terms. "With antimony prices at nearly 5x normal market conditions, the cost becomes a factor and with supply limited on the Western market, a shortage is being felt," he said. For now, it seems that battery makers' antimony woes have not yet led to cuts in output, with companies like Germany's Hoppecke saying they have managed to pass on higher costs. Japan's GS Yuasa (6674.T), opens new tab said it has passed on costs to some customers and is negotiating with more of its customers to do so. One source at an Indian battery maker said antimony represented only a small cost of a battery and price increases were being passed onto customers, but any more price rises could spell trouble. "If the price does increase further, everyone (in the industry) will be vulnerable," said the source who was not authorised to speak to the media and declined to be identified. The companies and the source at the Indian battery maker declined to disclose the size of their product price hikes. In a sign that profits are being affected, India's Exide Industries ( opens new tab blamed high prices for antimony when it logged smaller-than-expected income for its fourth quarter. Christensen of the Responsible Battery Coalition said policymakers should treat the issue as one of national security, arguing that Western countries had become "overly reliant on a single geopolitical adversary for minerals foundational to both national defense and civilian life." "For the U.S., the path forward must include onshoring processing capacity, scaling domestic recycling, and building strategic mineral alliances with trusted partners. Otherwise, this crisis will repeat itself again and again," he added. Some baby steps towards building an antimony supply chain outside of China are being taken. Clarios, owned by global investment firm Brookfield, said last month it was scouting locations for an up to $1 billion critical minerals processing and recovery plant in the U.S. that will extract antimony among other minerals. Nyrstar, owned by global commodity trader Trafigura, also said last month it could produce antimony at its South Australian metals processing plant but would need government support to do so.
Times
25 minutes ago
- Times
Who'll rule Iran if the ayatollahs are ousted?
Back in 2014 the US security expert Matthew Kroenig set out the difference between an Israeli and an American bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities. A US strike would, he said, impose at least a five-year delay in Iran's nuclear progress while an 'Israeli strike would only buy us two to three years'. His conclusion: let the US handle the problem. The difference between the two predicted outcomes is still politically crucial. Putting Iran's nuclear ambitions on ice for five years could coincide with a shift in thinking in the country's defence establishment, a recalculation of the value of the goal of nuclear status. A shorter delay, bought by the flattening that Israel is inflicting on Iran's enrichment centres, might merely radicalise Tehran's nuclear lobby. The calculus has changed a little since Kroenig first set out his stall in his book A Time to Attack. Iran's proxy armies have grown and then withered, the nuclear diplomacy led by Barack Obama has run its course and Iran, creaking under the weight of western sanctions, does not look much like a regional leader any more. But the principles remain the same: a US attack changes the whole Middle East order while a solo Israeli assault keeps Iran, with Russian and Chinese backing, still in contention, a wounded big beast. This is where Binyamin Netanyahu's repeated, broad hints about accelerating regime change come into play. In the absence of a US military campaign against Tehran, Israel's best bet is the installation of a credible, even partially legitimate government in Iran that decides nuclear weapons are not essential for its status in the world. More important for Iranians is the country's reintegration into the world, sensible relations with neighbours and open-minded non-corrupt government. • Israel–Iran latest: Trump demands 'unconditional surrender' from Tehran Netanyahu describes this not as a war aim but rather as a desirable by-product of a short war. Donald Trump meanwhile knows how resistant America is to a revival of neocon, impose-democracy-by-force arguments but is open to the idea that Iran's rulers can change their mind. Hence his sudden return from the G7 summit this week, his warning to residents of Tehran to flee the city and the repositioning of forces that suggest he might after all order a bunker-busting raid on Iran's mountain enrichment plant. The point: to present Iran with an existential choice between a humiliating end to the nuclear dream or a negotiated face-saving exit while the ruling establishment is still intact enough to govern. Both options on offer from the US actually point to regime change even while loudly denying it. Despite all their intelligence savviness, the CIA and Mossad cannot predict how the next few weeks will play out. But one useful template is provided by Syria, once a close ally of Tehran which bankrolled the country in return for allowing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to establish bases and arms depots there in order to build weapons supply routes to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Assads ruled Syria from the 1970s by building corrupt networks and using the secret police to muzzle the nation. But this year, in a helter-skelter fortnight, their regime was toppled by an ex-jihadist, backed and groomed (new suits, a shorter beard) by Turkish intelligence, and Bashar al-Assad disappeared under cover of darkness to a luxury apartment in Moscow. Could the ayatollahs be toppled with such surgical precision? They too have been in power since the 1970s; they too have kept control by playing one group off against another and have, through a series of missteps, near-bankrupted their country and alienated their young people. Ahmed al-Sharaa's rise in Syria was dizzying. In November his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took over Aleppo and Hama and cut off Damascus from Assad's Alawite strongholds on the coast. By December he was sitting in Assad's palace. Last month President Sharaa had a meeting with Trump ('he's a young, attractive tough guy'). He has now started a normalisation process with Israel, made peace with the Kurds, expelled foreign militias, kept Islamic State at bay, got some western sanctions lifted and gained access to global credit markets. Not bad for someone who in his youth had been interned by the US in Iraq, in Camp Bucca where hardened jihadists from Islamic State and al-Qaeda ignored the American guards and ran their own sharia courts. In Camp Bucca, it used to be said, you entered as a nationalist and you left as a jihadist. Now Syria's new leader has become a nationalist again, albeit a religiously observant one. Does Trump think that a similar transition can be made in Iran? It would require an intelligence-spotting operation capable of finding a strong communicator who could unite the diverse pockets of resistance: the workers in the factories, the farmers who feel cheated, the students who chafe at the intellectual closing of Iran. Traditionally in this situation a figure can emerge from prison like Nelson Mandela, or from daily persecution and bureaucratic exclusion like Lech Walesa. Iran needs not only a rallying figure but one who has the flexibility to work with non-dogmatic elements of the ancien régime; a leader could even, some suggest, emerge from modernisers within the hated IRGC, providing that they retain a sense of honour, fairness and a sensitivity to what ordinary Iranians really need and want. One thing is clear: clerical rule, backed by an iron-fisted police state machinery, has failed Iran. The old guard protects only its own interests and hidden fortunes. Every day of this exhausting gallop of a war has demonstrated they cannot defend, inspire or mobilise Iranians. The country is on the brink of implosion.
