中國正在展示其供應鏈實力 - 汽車產業陷入恐慌

Recently Yahoo News on-line picked up the following:

China is flexing its supply chain muscles — and the auto industry is freaking out

Business Insider - Tom Carter

Thu, June 5, 2025 at 7:14 a.m. PDT·4 min read

China is flexing its supply chain dominance as its trade war truce with the US teeters.

Carmakers and parts suppliers in Europe and the US are scrambling to shift supply chains and warning of imminent production shutdowns as Chinese restrictions on rare earth metals and magnets push the industry to the brink of a serious supply shock.

China halted all exports of rare-earth magnets — critical components for car manufacturers such as Tesla and BMW — in April, shortly after the Trump administration imposed a barrage of tariffs on trade partners and adversaries alike.

Chinese authorities began allowing some exports in recent weeks, but global supplies have slowed to a trickle — and now carmakers are beginning to feel the pain.

BMW's supply chain has been affected by the restrictions, a spokesperson for the German automaker told Business Insider.

Although production at its vehicle plants was running on schedule, BMW was in discussions with suppliers to implement countermeasures, the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Mercedes-Benz was discussing plans to stockpile key components. A spokesperson for the German automaker told BI it was in close contact with suppliers and "evaluating and monitoring the situation very closely," but did not "see any direct restrictions."

Ford had idled a factory in Chicago as a result of a rare earths shortage. A spokesperson told BI the plant was operating again.

 

'Alternative ways'

Sherry House, Ford's CFO, addressed the rare earths supply issue in a fireside chat at the UBS auto and auto tech conference in New York on Wednesday in comments reported by the Detroit Free Press.

House said it was sometimes necessary to take mitigating action and "look for alternative parts or alternative ways to get things." While Ford had been coping, she added: "I don't know if at some point this is going to be a larger issue for us?"

Japanese automaker Suzuki has also temporarily suspended production of its Swift hatchback, with Reuters reporting the pause was due to the rare earth restrictions. Suzuki did not respond to a request for comment.

Rare earth materials such as dysprosium and terbium are crucial components of magnets that are widely used throughout the auto industry, in electric motors that power brakes and steering, as well as factory robots used to build cars.

Although many of these materials can be found around the world, China has a stranglehold over the processing of rare earths into usable material, and produces 90% of the world's annual supply of rare earth magnets.

That makes them a valuable lever to pull during a global trade war, with suppliers across the world warning that the auto industry's dependency on China has put it at risk of a serious supply chain shock.

The European Association of Automotive Suppliers warned on Wednesday that several production lines and plants had shut down in Europe because of the restrictions, with "urgent action" needed to safeguard automotive production and thousands of jobs in the European Union.

Hildegard Müller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, said in a statement that although Chinese authorities had begun granting licences to export rare earth magnets, not enough were being granted to avert supply chain shocks.

"If the situation does not change quickly, production delays and even production stoppages can no longer be ruled out," Müller said.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the European Union's trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, said he had raised the "alarming" situation facing the continent's car industry with his Chinese counterpart.

 

'Real-time risks'

The risk of disruption extends across the Atlantic.

In a statement reported by Reuters, MEMA — which represents vehicle part suppliers in the US — warned that the restrictions were posing "serious, real-time risks" to automotive supply chains.

"The situation remains unresolved and the level of concern remains very high. Immediate and decisive action is needed to prevent widespread disruption and economic fallout across the vehicle supplier sector," the industry body said.

In a joint letter to the Trump administration with an industry body representing automakers including General Motors and Hyundai, MEMA previously warned that the curbs could harm the production of everything from seatbelts to power steering and lead to the shutdown of vehicle production lines in the US.

For a stressed-out auto industry, there's little sign of relief anytime soon.

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said Chinese Premier Xi Jinping was "extremely hard to make a deal with," after previously accusing China of reneging on a trade deal signed last month.

Translation

中國正在展示其供應鏈實力 - 汽車產業陷入恐慌

隨著中美貿易戰休戰協定搖搖欲墜，中國正在展示其供應鏈主導地位。

由於中國對稀土金屬和磁鐵的限制，汽車行業正瀕臨嚴重的供應衝擊，歐美的汽車製造商和零件供應商正爭相轉移供應鏈，並警告即將停產。

在特朗普政府對貿易夥伴和對手徵收一系列關稅後不久，中國於4月暫停了所有稀土磁鐵 - 特斯拉(Tesla) 和寶馬 (BMW)等汽車製造商的關鍵零件 - 的出口。

最近幾週，中國當局開始允許部分稀土磁鐵出口，但全球供應已減少到涓滴 - 現在，汽車製造商開始感受到衝擊。

BMW 的一位發言人告訴《商業內幕》，其供應鏈已受到這些限制的影響。

發言人補充說，儘管寶馬汽車工廠的生產仍在按計劃進行，但寶馬正在與供應商討論實施應對措施。

與此同時，彭博社報道稱，Mercedes-Benz正在討論關鍵零件的儲備計劃。這家德國汽車製造商的一位發言人告訴《商業內幕》，該公司正與供應商密切聯繫，並“密切評估和監控形勢”，但“並未發現任何直接的限制措施”。

由於稀土短缺，福特 (Ford)關閉了位於芝加哥的一家工廠。一位發言人告訴《商業內幕》，該工廠已恢復運作。

“替代方案”

根據《底特律自由新聞報》報道，福特首席財務長 Sherry House 週三在紐約瑞銀汽車和汽車技術大會的爐邊談話中談到了稀土供應問題。

House 表示，有時是有必要採取緩解措施，「尋找替代零件或其他獲取方案」。福特一直在應對問題，但她補充說：“我不知道這是否會在某個時候成這會為我們更大的問題？”

日本汽車製造商鈴木 (Suzuki) 也暫停了其 Swift掀背車的生產，路透社報道稱，這次停產是由於稀土限制。鈴木尚未回應置評請求。

鏑和铽等稀土材料是磁鐵的重要組成部分，廣泛應用於汽車行業，包括驅動煞車和轉向的電動馬達，以及用於製造汽車工廠的機械人。

儘管許多此類材料在世界各地都能找到，但中國在稀土加工成可用材料方面擁有絕對優勢，每年生產的稀土磁鐵佔全球供應量的90%。

這使得稀土磁鐵成為全球貿易戰中一個寶貴的槓桿，世界各地的供應商警告稱，汽車產業對中國的依賴, 使其面臨嚴重的供應鏈衝擊風險。

歐洲汽車供應商協會週三警告稱，由於這些限制措施，歐洲已有數條生產線和工廠關閉，需要採取「緊急行動」來保障汽車生產和歐盟數千個工作職位。

德國汽車工業協會主席  Hildegard Müller 在聲明中表示，儘管中國當局已開始發放稀土磁鐵出口許可證，但發放的許可證數量不足以避免對供應鏈的衝擊。

Müller表示：“如果情況不迅速好轉，就不能排除生產延誤甚至停產的可能性。”

歐盟貿易專員 Maros Sefcovic 在周三的新聞發布會上表示，他已向中國貿易專員提出了歐洲大陸汽車行業面臨的「令人擔憂」的情況。

 

“即時風險”

中斷的風險延伸至大西洋彼岸。

據路透社報道，代表美國汽車零件供應商的美國汽車製造商製造商協會（MEMA）在一份聲明中警告稱，這些限制措施正在對汽車供應鏈構成「嚴重的即時風險」。

該行業組織表示： “情況仍未解決，令人擔憂的程度仍然很高。需要立即採取果斷行動，以防止汽車供應商行業出現大範圍混亂和經濟衰退。”

此前，MEMA與代表通用汽車和現代等汽車製造商的行業組織聯合致信特朗普政府，警告這些限制措施可能會損害所有產品的生產, 從汽車安全帶到動力方向盤等，並導緻美國汽車生產線關閉。

對於不堪壓力過大的汽車產業來說，短期內幾乎沒有緩解的跡象。

特朗普週三在Truth Social網站上發表文章稱，與中國國家主席習近平“達成協議極其困難”，此前他曾指責中國違背了上個月簽署的貿易協議。

So, China is highlighting its supply chain dominance on rare earth metals and magnets. Carmakers and parts suppliers in Europe and the US are scrambling to shift supply chains and making warning of imminent production shutdowns as Chinese restrictions on rare earth metals and magnets are causing the industry serious problems. In a joint letter to the Trump administration US automakers warn that the supply problem could harm the production of everything from seatbelts to power steering and lead to the shutdown of vehicle production lines. Apparently, Trump notes the seriousness of the issue and talks with China urgently.