| WORDS OF WISDOM | | “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.” | | CARL JUNG | |
Good morning! Today, we’re covering auto tariff exemptions, how long it would take the United States to refine its own rare earths, and China’s chokehold on medicine production. |
| TOP STORIES |
 | | Chinese Exporters Begin to Feel Pain | | If the trade war persists, “the damage to the Chinese economy will be far greater than the impact to the U.S. economy,” U.S.-based China affairs commentator Wang He told The Epoch Times. | | | |
|
Trump Considering Auto Tariff Exemptions, White House Confirms President 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 Catch It 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 Spotlight As 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) |
| MORE TOP NEWS |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| PREMIUM |
| |
| INSPIRED |
| |
| CULTURE |
 | | 5 Ways the Ancient Romans Shaped the Modern World | | Probably no other civilization has shaped the Western world more than the ancient Romans did.
At the peak of the Roman Empire, when its borders stretched from the foggy hills of northern Britain to the winding waterways of the Nile, upwards of 60 million people lived under the sign of the eagle. The Romans left traces of their influence on all the people they ruled and, taken together, had a profound impact on Western culture as a whole.
Read on for a brief sketch of the sprawling influence of Rome down through the ages, pointing to some of the ways that it has shaped—and continues to shape—the world as we know it.
Military Organization and Strategy—The vast Roman Empire was built by Roman military might and Roman diplomacy. The latter was always more effective when backed up by the former. Without the Roman military, there would have been no grand Roman civilization.
The Roman army was a tough, disciplined, adaptable force. It could batter its way even through numerically larger forces due to its excellent training, morale, and experience. The professional, standing Roman army grew hard-edged through the crucible of battle, like a sword-blade tempered by a forge’s flame.
Many methods and procedures of the Roman military remain with us today. The Romans mandated basic training for new recruits, much as modern militaries do. The system of ranks and promotions in use at the time worked similar to today’s. The Roman military also trained and deployed talented medics, whose track record was better than the medics of the American Civil War. | | | |
| EPOCH TV |
| |
| |
| OPINION |
| |
| |
| EPOCH FUN |
| |
| |
