US President Donald Trump on Friday (October 10) announced 100 percent tariffs on China “over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” effective November 1. He also announced export curbs on “any and all critical software.”

Trump said he would also cancel his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.

The move follows the sweeping export controls on rare earths and associated technologies announced by China earlier this week. Here is everything to know.

First, what are rare earths?

Rare earth metals, or rare earth elements (REEs), are a group of 17 chemical elements on the periodic table that share similar chemical properties and are silver-coloured in appearance.

While REEs are not as rare as the

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