Trump threatens 'massive' tariff hike on China over rare earths dispute

To be fair, the tariffs are having their intended effect. They're working quite well for the ultra wealthy for whom they were designed. The inevitable financial fallout is a problem for the future, but it doesn't really matter because workers and consumers will be left holding the bag as usual.

Oh, no no no! This will go toward lowering taxes! (Terms and conditions may apply)

It's okay. The think tanks, megadoners, and PACs with their arm up his puppet sleeve definitely know how tariffs work.

I'm not convinced he remembers what he had for breakfast. Dementia is rough man.

The term "rare-earth" is a misnomer, because they are not actually scarce, but because they are only found in compounds, not as pure metals, and are difficult to isolate and purify. They are relatively plentiful in the entire Earth's crust, but in practice they are spread thinly as trace impurities, so to obtain rare earths at usable purity requires processing enormous amounts of raw ore at great expense.

Basically the whole thing has always been a misnomer. They arent rare, nor are they found as metal naturally. But I suppose rare earth elements or metals sounds better than “abundant but hard to find rock thingies”