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October 27, 2025
 

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SUPPLY CHAINS

A wafer fab owned by Nexperia. The Dutch chipmaker has warned Japanese auto parts makers about a potential supply shortage.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 23, 2025
Nexperia warns Japanese automakers of uncertain chip supply
The Dutch government seized control of Nijmegen-based Nexperia earlier this month in an unprecedented step intended to secure European access to the components made by the company.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent takes a picture during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23 in New York.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2025
Supply-chain economics beat tariff politics
Twenty years ago, China learned the hard way that once supply chains reorganize, they never return to their previous form.
A sample of monazite, a mineral used in the rare-earth industry to extract elements such as cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium, is displayed at the Geological Museum of China in Beijing on Oct. 14.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2025
'They can shut us down in two months': Carmakers race China's rare-earths curbs
Most motors that don't rely on rare earths are years away, as are efforts to develop new rare-earth mines and processing plants outside China, industry experts say.
The U.S.-China trade war has escalated as both sides use economic leverage, with China asserting dominance over rare earths to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, while the U.S. seeks a collective global response and long-term strategy to reduce dependency on China's supply chains.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
This is what a real trade war looks like
China has leverage over trading partners every bit as powerful as what Trump seeks to wield.
Magnetic slices made from rare earth metals. Beijing last week announced a sweeping set of rules that are set to restrict the flow of rare earths worldwide.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
China’s rare earth restrictions aim to beat U.S. at its own game
The impacts of the Chinese licensing system would be much broader than U.S. technology controls, which have targeted only more advanced computer chips.
Silicon semiconductor wafers pass through a wet chemical cleaning machine at a Nexperia plant. The company is the latest to be caught in an escalating global trade spat leading up to China’s high-stakes talks with the United States.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2025
Carmakers push to secure chips as China trade spat escalates
While Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump are to meet this month to hammer out a trade accord, both sides announced restrictions that have raised tensions.
A Chinese trade delegation in Madrid for talks with its U.S. counterpart holds a news conference on Sept. 15. Rare earths, along with tariffs and other key issues, will define the next phase of the China-U.S. rivalry as both sides escalate tensions, vie for leverage and leave room for tactical negotiation.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2025
The Sino-U.S. economic cage match heats up
Notwithstanding momentary attempts at detente, the long-term path is toward competitive confrontation.
A barrel of annealed neodymium iron boron magnets prior to being crushed into powder in Tianjin, China, on June 11, 2010.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 15, 2025
China flexes superpower status using rare earths in global supply chain grab
The true impact is yet unknown but the move already has companies and policymakers considering countermeasures and alternative suppliers.
New export restrictions include large-scale lithium-ion batteries used for energy storage as well as cathode and anode materials and battery manufacturing machinery, all technologies where China has a robust global lead.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 13, 2025
China’s new weapon in U.S. trade talks: Batteries
New rules require battery companies to receive licenses from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce before exporting their goods, allowing Beijing to selectively weaponize exports.
A worker waters the site of a rare earth metals mine in Nancheng county, in China's Jiangxi province, in January 2011.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
The world’s chip supply chain is bracing for fallout from China’s rare-earth curbs
The restrictions represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 11, 2025
Trump ratchets up U.S.-China trade war with new levies and export controls
The actions signaled the biggest rupture in relations in four months between Beijing and Washington — the world's biggest factory and its biggest consumer.
A mine for heavy rare earth metals outside of Longnan in south-central China's Jiangxi province
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2025
China expands rare earths restrictions, targeting defense and chips users
The new curbs come ahead of a scheduled face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea at the end of October.
Magnetic slices made from rare earth metals at a factory run by the Canadian company Neo Performance Materials in Narva, Estonia, on Sept. 17. China is exerting its power over rare earth magnets as leverage in international trade.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 9, 2025
China tightens rare earth export controls, targeting defense and chips
China produces over 90% of the world's processed rare earths and rare earth magnets.
The U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington in 2022
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2025
U.S. expands export blacklist in crackdown on Chinese subsidiaries
The action greatly increases the number of companies that require licenses to receive American goods and services.
Industry minister Yoji Muto takes part in a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 25, 2025
Japan and ASEAN nations to cooperate on bolstering supply chains
Japan and ASEAN are slated to set up a task force to select areas in which they will cooperate.
Japan has many positive qualities for German companies, but the market does face some challenges, such as talent acquisition and retention, particularly as demand for skilled workers grows, a survey by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan showed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 22, 2025
German companies choosing Japan as Asia manufacturing hub: survey
The country is valued for its stability, affordability and proximity to other major markets, according to the survey by the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan.
The factory of Asahi Tekko, which produces parts for Toyota vehicles, in Hekinan, Japan, on Aug. 18
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 28, 2025
The backbone of the global auto supply chain is at risk from Trump’s tariffs
Industry experts expect a devastating effect on the dense networks of auto parts suppliers that make everything from pistons to wiring.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba holds a news conference in Tokyo last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 16, 2025
Japan to accelerate development of logistics network in Africa
The planned corridor, which will link the inland African country of Zambia and a port in Mozambique, is aimed at enhancing supply chains for mineral resources.
Heavy mining machinery extracts minerals in an open pit mine. The Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security aims to diversify sources of gallium to reduce the country's reliance on imports from China.Getty Images
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2025
Japan's energy security agency to join gallium production study in Australia
The Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security aims to diversify sources of gallium to reduce the country's reliance on imports from China.
China is not merely moving more goods; it is exporting a new, ruthlessly efficient production model powered by automation, AI and state-guided industrial optimization.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2025
China’s unbeatable new production model export
The more pressing concern, however, is not what China exports, but how. Global cost structures are indeed being reshaped.
Bear kills another person in Japan in record year for fatal attacks
Police investigate the scene of a bear attack that killed one person and injured three others on Friday in the village of Higashinaruse in Akita Prefecture.
Tokyo launches English-language international school database
A screenshot of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's international schools portal site
Strong quake shakes Hokkaido as authorities urge vigilance
Kunashiri Island is seen across the Nemuro Strait, just before sunrise from Rausu, Hokkaido. A strong earthquake struck the area at a depth of about 40 kilometers early Saturday.
New tourism minister calls concentration of tourists in certain areas 'very serious'
Tourism minister Yasushi Kaneko holds a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Florian Wiltschko: ‘Shinto helps me understand and live within Japanese culture’
Florian Wiltschko’s interest in Shintoism began with a trip to Japan in his teens. He now serves as the supplicant priest at the 355-year-old Hisai Hachiman Shrine in Mie Prefecture.
Japan’s youth are apathetic toward the climate crisis. Could anime change that?
“Future Kid Takara,” a series of anime shorts to be aired on NHK Educational TV in November, attempts to educate children about climate change.
Loss to Wallabies doesn't dampen Japan’s optimism
Japan's Michael Leitch controls the ball during the match against Australia on Saturday.
Stars align for Kim-Trump meeting — but any talks will be on N.K. leader’s terms
A South Korean soldier stands next to a TV broadcasting a news report about a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
New ‘immigration minister’ post signals Takaichi Cabinet’s priorities
Kimi Onoda, economic security minister and minister for harmonious coexistence with foreign nationals, arrives at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Number of suicide cases among students in Japan hits record high in 2024
The health ministry's Suicide White Paper for 2024 has found that numbers for both men and women peak at age 21, with “concerns over future career paths” being identified as the most likely cause.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.
By Thu-Huong Ha and Mike Fu

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