PDB Afternoon Bulletin | April 15th, 2025: China Halts Rare Earth Exports In Latest Retaliation & Illegal Border Crossings Plummet To Record Lows
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Visit prma.org slash middleman to learn more. Paid for by Pharma. It's Tuesday, the 15th of April. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed.

We'll start things off with a troubling update in the global trade war as China cuts off exports of essential rare earth minerals, halts all jet orders from Boeing, and suspends all purchases of aircraft equipment from American companies. Later in the show, we turn to the U.S. southern border, where, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, illegal migrant crossings have dropped to a record low under the second Trump administration.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The U.S.-China tariff war. Have you heard about it? Well, it's taking another alarming turn, as China stops shipments of essential rare-earth metals and magnets, raising alarms for U.S. industries reliant on Beijing's mineral monopoly. In their latest retaliation to President Trump's 145% trade tariff,

The Chinese government ordered restrictions on the export of seven heavy rare earth metals processed or refined exclusively in China. It's an attempt, apparently, to choke off supplies of components critical to the operations of U.S. automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies, and military contractors.

China's stranglehold over the elements are a powerful arrow in their quiver, as 60% of all rare earth materials are produced in China, and more than 90% are processed there. That's according to a report from the New York Times. Additionally, the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, has halted exports of rare earth magnets, 90%,

of which are also produced in China. Are you starting to see a trend here? These rare earth magnets, which are significantly more powerful than any other types, are essential for building electric motors that are used in the production of electric vehicles, drones, robots, missiles, and spacecraft, as well as, for example, the steering systems in gas-powered cars.

Drew Horn, who served as the top U.S. official on strategic minerals during Trump's first term, told the New York Post, quote, Rare earths are in everything. China has essentially created an all-powerful monopoly with them. They have that leverage to basically cut off the U.S. and cut the world off, and now they're doing it, end quote.

The export halt applies to all countries, and going forward, the metals and magnets can only be shipped out of China with special export licenses, though China has yet to set up a system for issuing such permits. While it's not clear when access will be granted to foreign companies, a major chemical supplier in Los Angeles told the New York Times that Chinese officials have indicated it may take up to 45 days for export licenses to start being issued.

Now, I can't overstate the importance of these elements to U.S. industry, as they're used in everything from consumer electronics to defense technology. The various minerals are critical to the manufacturing of jet engines, drones, cars, robots, and computer chips, just to name a few of their applications.

U.S. companies do not hold large emergency stockpiles of these elements, meaning that current supplies could rapidly run low, handicapping the manufacturing process and risking major production disruptions.

The impact on military contractors is, well, of particular concern. Boeing, for example, relies on rare earth minerals to produce next-generation F-47 fighter aircraft. The chairman of MP Materials, a leader in American mining, told the Times, quote, "...drones and robotics are widely considered the future of warfare, and based on everything we're seeing, the critical inputs for our future supply chain are shut down," end quote.

China is likely hoping the restrictions will pressure Washington to the negotiating table, but their retaliation isn't stopping with rare earth minerals. According to our report from Bloomberg, China has also ordered its airline companies to halt all jet orders from Boeing and to not purchase any aircraft-related equipment from U.S. companies.

The order caused Boeing's share price to dip 3% as the aerospace giant sees China as one of its biggest growth markets. Taken together, China's actions are the most drastic response yet to the escalating trade war with the US, and the downstream effects, well, could prove catastrophic for essential American industries.

Coming up next, an update from the U.S. southern border, where illegal migrant crossings have dropped to a record low. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Well, look, I hate to be the bearer of bad news,

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. Newly released data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection reveals illegal crossings at the southern border have dropped to historic lows under the Trump administration. In a striking reversal from last year, CBP reported fewer apprehensions for the entire month of March than were logged in just the first 48 hours of March 2024, when President Biden's policies were still in effect.

It's the second consecutive month in which the Border Patrol has posted the lowest daily apprehension averages in agency history, an outcome that the Trump administration hails as proof that its hardline approach is working.

According to CBP's latest report, just under 7,200 illegal immigrants were apprehended at the southern border in March. That's a 14% drop from February and a staggering 95% drop compared to March of 2024, when Border Patrol agents recorded 137,400 apprehensions.

In a statement posted to X, the CBP called the trend a "pivotal achievement in our nation's border security efforts," adding that operational control, which was a once-distant benchmark, "is becoming a reality."

The agency attributed the turnaround to a slate of Trump's aggressive enforcement measures, including enhanced patrols supported by the Department of Defense. The CBP noted that prospective migrants are now responding to the administration's uncompromising policy posture of, quote, if you cross the border illegally, you will be deported. The same trend is visible at ports of entry. The CBP's Office of Field Operations, which oversees roughly 300 American ports of entry,

saw 670 encounters per day in March. That's down 81% from the March average of last year of over 3,460 per day. But perhaps the most striking impact is being felt far beyond the U.S. southern border. In the treacherous Darien Gap, that's a notorious jungle corridor between Colombia and Panama, that region, once overrun with tens of thousands of migrants per month trekking north, well, it's gone quiet.

Department of Homeland Security data shows just over 400 migrants crossed the Darien Gap in February of this year, down 99% from some 37,000 who made the journey during the same month of last year under former President Biden. At the height of the crisis in 2022, Panamanian officials tracked an average of 16,400 weekly crossings. Again, there were just 400 migrant crossings in the

in the Darien Gap in February of this year. Now, the Associated Press describes empty migrant camps and abandoned paths that just months ago teemed with foot traffic through the Gap. Officials point to a suite of reinstated Trump policies behind the decline, including mass deportation flights, military-assisted border enforcement, and what the White House calls a "border shutdown" aimed at restoring legal order to the southern frontier.

Within CBP, career officials describe the March figures as more than just a policy victory. They see them as the long-awaited confirmation that stricter border policy can, in fact, reverse migratory surges.

The administration sees the March data as a vindication of its hardline immigration agenda and a direct rebuke of its predecessor's immigration record. Officials inside CBP now say that the goals once seen as aspirational, such as operational control, are being met in real time.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Tuesday, the 15th of April. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. And of course, if you want to listen to the show ad-free, that is certainly doable. Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.

Mike Baker here. Well, tariffs, you know, that ugly trade war situation, it's thrown the global economy into chaos. Potential widespread inflation tied to massive supply chain disruptions, well, it's weighing heavily on all of us. But there is a silver lining out there. Well, it's actually a silver and a gold lining. See, President Trump specifically exempted gold and silver bullion from these sweeping tariffs.

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