U.S. is dangerously dependent on China 🇺🇸🇨🇳

Mexico has become the largest buyer of U.S. goods for the first time in nearly 30 years, edging past Canada and underscoring how tightly the two economies are connected despite political tensions.

1️⃣ Numero Uno: U.S. Commerce Department data show that from January to August, American exports to Mexico reached $226.4 billion, slightly above the $225.6 billion shipped to Canada. The shift comes two years after Mexico also became the United States’ top supplier, replacing China.

📈 Continued Demand: Mexico’s demand for U.S. products — from meat and cereals to fuel, iron, and steel — has steadily grown as its middle class has expanded.

📦 Increased Import: U.S. imports from Mexico also continued to rise this year, reaching $354.9 billion, with autos, machinery, and medical devices leading the flow.

The United States is set to slash tariffs on Swiss goods to 15%, down from the current 39%, as part of a new framework trade agreement that also secures a Swiss commitment to invest $200 billion in the U.S. by 2028.

Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin announced the deal, saying the move will bring U.S. tariff levels on Swiss products in line with those applied to European Union goods and deliver relief to roughly 40% of Switzerland’s exports

🤝 Deal Winners: Switzerland’s machinery, precision instruments, watchmaking, and food industries — all major exporters to the U.S. — stand to gain the most from the tariff cuts.

💰 Tariff Attack: Swiss exports to the U.S. fell 14% in the three months through September. Machine tool makers were hit even harder, recording a steep 43% drop in shipments.

⌚️ Bad Time: Total Swiss watch exports fell 4.4% in October from a year earlier, slipping to 2.24 billion Swiss francs ($2.78 billion).

A new report to Congress says the U.S. remains dangerously exposed to Chinese supply-chain leverage across pharmaceuticals, electronics, rare earths, and key industrial components.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that Beijing has already demonstrated its ability to choke off critical materials—most notably this year’s rare-earth cutoff that disrupted manufacturing.

The report says China’s dominance stretches far beyond minerals. It highlights overwhelming Chinese control of active pharmaceutical ingredients, lithium-ion battery manufacturing, foundational chips, and electrical components used across U.S. infrastructure.

CMA CGM warned that 2026 is likely to be a difficult year for the container shipping industry, with executives citing slowing global trade and continued uncertainty. The company said that part of this year’s stronger demand reflected U.S. importers rushing goods into ports ahead of tariff deadlines, a temporary boost expected to fade.

The French carrier reported a steep drop in third-quarter performance, with revenue down 11.3% to $14 billion and net profit plunging 72.6% to $749 million. Revenue from the shipping division fell 17.4% as freight rates weakened, while volumes rose only 2.3% to 6.2 million TEUs

Looking ahead, the company said one of the biggest risks for 2026 is a potential capacity surplus if Red Sea disruptions ease and ships return to shorter Suez Canal routes.

Swedish electric-truck maker Einride has sued Maersk, accusing the Danish logistics giant of backing out of a headline 2022 deal to deploy 300 battery-electric big rigs across California, Illinois, and New Jersey.

Einride says Maersk reneged after falling short of its own targets for selling electric-capacity services and then pressured the startup for steep discounts before terminating the contract in late 2024.

Maersk disputes the claims, saying it cancelled the agreement because Einride failed to deliver additional vehicles already ordered and was behind on payments to its vendors.

The Netherlands has returned control of chipmaker Nexperia to its Chinese parent, Wingtech, easing a dispute triggered by U.S. trade restrictions and fears of a global chip shortage. The government said the reversal followed consultations with European partners and “constructive meetings” with Chinese officials, marking a shift from its September decision to take temporary control of the company.

Dutch authorities had intervened after Washington expanded its trade blacklist, raising the risk that Nexperia could face operational limits. Officials said the takeover was intended to safeguard the supply of basic semiconductors used in cars and electronic devices.

Automakers, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and Nissan, had warned that uncertainty around Nexperia’s output heightened the risk of production delays.

China has widened its purchasing ban on BHP Group’s iron ore, ordering steel mills and traders to halt buying a second product — the miner’s low-grade Jingbao fines — as tense contract negotiations continue.

The directive came from China Mineral Resources Group, the state-run agency that now centralizes Beijing’s iron ore buying. The suspension covers both seaborne shipments and port inventories, signaling a sharper escalation in China’s leverage over pricing and supply terms with the world’s biggest miners.

The move lands at a sensitive moment in annual contract talks involving BHP, Rio Tinto, and Vale, where China has pushed for more favorable pricing mechanisms and greater transparency. Analysts say the expanded ban highlights Beijing’s willingness to disrupt trade flows to extract concessions.

MP Materials announced it will set up a rare-earth refining joint venture in Saudi Arabia alongside the U.S. Department of Defense and state miner Maaden, strengthening American efforts to secure critical minerals outside China.

The deal gives MP Materials and the Pentagon a combined 49% stake, while Maaden will retain at least 51%. Shares of MP Materials rose more than 8% in premarket trading after the announcement.

MP Materials said it is also in talks to support or collaborate on magnet manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, extending the strategic partnership beyond refining. The initiative follows major investment deals unveiled during President Donald Trump’s trip to the Middle East earlier this year.

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced $355 million in grants to accelerate domestic critical minerals production, marking one of Washington’s most significant mining investments in decades.

The funding—issued through two DOE programs—aims to rebuild U.S. capacity in rare earths and battery materials amid rising geopolitical risks and heavy reliance on foreign suppliers.

Most of the funds will support pilot- and commercial-scale facilities that extract minerals from coal waste, industrial byproducts, and electronic scrap, while a separate “Mine of the Future” program will support automation, advanced separation technologies, and field-scale demonstrations.

DOE said rare earths, especially heavy elements like dysprosium and terbium used in permanent magnets, will receive priority due to long-standing supply chain chokepoints.

EU finance ministers have agreed to scrap the long-standing €150 “de minimis” exemption for low-value parcels as early as 2026, accelerating a planned customs overhaul amid surging imports from Chinese e-commerce players like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress.

The move, pushed by EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, aims to close loopholes that allow billions of small packages to enter Europe duty-free — a system that European retailers say has distorted competition and fueled a flood of ultra-cheap goods.

The urgency reflects the scale of the challenge: 4.6 billion low-value parcels arrived in the EU last year — more than 90% from China — and the flow is rising sharply ahead of Black Friday and Christmas. With the U.S. already scrapping its own de minimis rule, Brussels fears Europe has become the default destination for diverted Chinese shipments.

U.S. truck tonnage slipped again in October, with the ATA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index dropping 2.1% month-over-month and 1.8% year-over-year, marking its weakest reading since January. ATA chief economist Bob Costello said the decline reflects persistent pressure on the freight market, despite a slight unadjusted seasonal rise tied to early holiday movements.

The Cass Freight Index reported shipments down 7.8% year-over-year, while the Logistics Managers' Index held steady as lower inventories offset rising transportation costs. Analysts say weak manufacturing activity — with the ISM Manufacturing PMI contracting for an eighth straight month — and tariff-driven price increases are weighing on freight volumes.

The European Union plans to restrict aluminium scrap exports in a bid to safeguard its recycling industry, which says plants are sitting idle as valuable scrap flows to the U.S. and Asia, where prices are higher.

Brussels argues the outflow is undermining its decarbonisation goals, since recycled aluminium emits far less carbon than newly smelted metal and is essential for greener cars and renewable technologies.

European Aluminium, the industry group, welcomed the move, warning that the EU has 2 million tonnes of scrap less than it can process, forcing 15% of its recycling capacity offline. Final measures — ranging from export levies to recycled-content targets — will be unveiled early next year.