Latest news with #NazakNikakhtar
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Boston Globe
US dependence on China for rare earth magnets is causing shortages
Now, American and European companies are running out of the magnets. American automakers are the hardest hit, with executives warning that production at factories across the Midwest and South could be cut back in the coming days and weeks. Carmakers need the magnets for the electric motors that run brakes, steering, and fuel injectors. The motors in a single luxury car seat, for example, use as many as 12 magnets. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Factory robots depend on rare earth magnets, too. Advertisement 'This is America's, and the world's, Achilles' heel, which China continuously exploits,' said Nazak Nikakhtar, who was assistant secretary of commerce overseeing export controls during Trump's first term. The Chinese government has said little lately about its rare earth export restrictions. Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said on ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday that Trump and China's leader, Xi Jinping, could speak about trade as soon as this week, though no date had been set. Advertisement After China stopped all exports, it said that future shipments would require separate export licenses. China's Ministry of Commerce has struggled since then to issue licenses. It gave a handful to European companies in mid-April and a few more for American companies last week, but world supplies are dwindling fast. China produces 90 percent of the world's nearly 200,000 tons a year of high-performance rare earth magnets. Japanese companies produce most of the rest in Japan and Vietnam, mainly for Japanese manufacturers. The United States produces practically none, although small factories will start full production this year in South Carolina and Texas. A succession of administrations has tried to restart the industry ever since China drew attention to its dominance by imposing a two-month embargo on shipments of rare earths to Japan during a territorial dispute in 2010. But little has happened because of a gritty reality: Making rare earth magnets requires considerable investments at every stage of production. Yet the sales and profits are tiny. Worldwide sales of mined rare earths total only $5 billion a year. That is minuscule compared with $300 billion industries such as copper mining or iron ore mining. China has a formidable competitive advantage. The state-owned industry has few environmental compliance costs for its mines and an almost unlimited government budget for building huge processing refineries and magnet factories. Processing rare earths is technically demanding, but China has developed new processes. Rare earth chemistry programs are offered in 39 universities across the country, while the United States has no similar programs. China refines more than 99 percent of the world's supply of so-called heavy rare earths, which are the least common kinds of rare earths. Heavy rare earths are essential for making magnets that can resist the high temperatures and electrical fields found in cars, semiconductors, and many other technologies. Advertisement The sole US rare earths mine, located in Mountain Pass, Calif., stopped producing in 1998 after traces of heavy metals and faintly radioactive material leaked from a desert pipeline. Chinese state-controlled companies tried three times without success to buy the defunct mine before it was acquired by US investors in 2008. A $1 billion Pentagon-backed investment program followed in 2010 to improve environmental compliance and expand the mine and its adjacent refinery. But the costly complex was unable to compete when it briefly reopened in 2014, and closed again the next year. MP Materials, a Chicago investor group that included a minority partner company partly owned by the Chinese government, bought the mine in 2017. The mine reopened the next year, but shipped its ore to China for the difficult task of separating the various kinds of rare earths. Only in recent months has the mine become able to chemically separate the rare earths in more than half its output. But this loses money because processing in China is so inexpensive. MP Materials built the new factory in Texas that will turn separated rare earths into magnets. A considerable bottleneck lies in transforming separated rare earths into chemically pure metal ingots that can be fed into the furnaces of magnet-making machines. A New England startup, Phoenix Tailings, is addressing that shortcoming, but its small scale underlines the challenge. Phoenix Tailings has taken over much of the staff and equipment of Infinium, a startup that had tried to do the same thing. Infinium ran out of money in 2020, when American policy makers were more focused on the COVID-19 pandemic than rare earths. Advertisement With Chinese rare earth minerals hard to get, Phoenix makes the metal from mine tailings: leftover material at mines that has been processed once to remove another material, like iron. Phoenix Tailings has four machines each the size of a small cottage at its factory in Burlington. Each one produces a 6.6-pound ingot every three hours around the clock. The operation's overall capacity is 40 tons a year, said Nick Myers, Phoenix's CEO. He declined to identify the buyer but said it was an automotive company. Phoenix is installing equipment at a larger site in Exeter, N.H., to produce metal at a rate of 200 tons a year — still tiny compared with Chinese factories that produce more than that in a month. Thomas Villalón Jr., Phoenix's chief technical officer, said that ramping up production quickly was important during a trade war: 'It's a race right now.' This article originally appeared in .
New York Times
7 days ago
- Automotive
- New York Times
U.S. Dependence on China for Rare Earth Magnets Is Causing Shortages
Two decades ago, factories in Indiana that turned rare earth metals into magnets moved production to China — just as demand for the magnets was starting to soar for everything from cars and semiconductors to fighter jets and robots. The United States is now reckoning with the cost of losing that supply chain. The Chinese government abruptly halted exports of rare earth magnets to any country on April 4 as part of its trade war with the United States. American officials had expected that China would relax its restrictions on the magnets as part of the trade truce the two countries reached in mid-May. But on Friday, President Trump suggested that China had continued to limit access. Now, American and European companies are running out of the magnets. American automakers are the hardest hit, with executives warning that production at factories across the Midwest and South could be cut back in the coming days and weeks. Carmakers need the magnets for the electric motors that run brakes, steering and fuel injectors. The motors in a single luxury car seat, for example, use as many as 12 magnets. Factory robots depend on rare earth magnets, too. 'This is America's, and the world's, Achilles' heel, which China continuously exploits,' said Nazak Nikakhtar, who was the assistant secretary of commerce overseeing export controls during Mr. Trump's first term. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Bloomberg
28-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Clear-Eyed On Trade Talks: Nikakhtar
Nazak Nikakhtar, Wiley Rein LLP National Security Partner & Former Undersecretary of the Department of Commerce, weighs in on trade talks among the United States and trading partners around the world and suggests it's very likely to have some negotiations done quickly. She goes into detail about why she believes negotiations with some partners can happen fast, talks US & China trade conflict, and how quickly can trade happen between China & the US if both countries agree to lower tariffs on each other. Nazak Nikakhtar speaks with Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu on the late edition of Bloomberg's "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What to Expect When Trump Unveils Tariff Plan April 2
Nazak Nikakhtar, Wiley Rein LLP National Security Partner & Former Department of Commerce Undersecretary, weighs in on what she expects from President Trump as he is set to unveil his tariff plan on Wednesday. She states all options are on the table when referring to which country or countries the President may target with his tariff policies, and if tariffs will generate revenue. Nazak Nikakhtar speaks with Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu on Bloomberg's "Balance of Power."
Bloomberg
01-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
President Trump to Unveil Tariff Plan April 2
"Balance of Power" focuses on the intersection of politics and global business. On today's show, Nazak Nikakhtar, Wiley Rein LLP National Security Partner & Former Department of Commerce Undersecretary, weighs in on what she expects from President Trump as he is set to unveil his tariff plan on Wednesday. Larry Sabato, Sabato's Crystal Ball Editor-In-Chief, discusses the Wisconsin Supreme Court special election and if this election is a larger indicator of how Americans are feeling right now. Senator Ted Cruz (R) Texas discusses having many conversations with President Trump as the President is set to announce his tariff policy on April 2nd. (Source: Bloomberg)
