Air cargo shipments from Asia to the United States have plunged in the wake of Washington’s decision to end a longstanding tax exemption for low-value packages from China, underscoring how rapidly shifting U.S. trade policy is reshaping global supply chains and pinching the booming cross-border e-commerce sector.

Data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that air freight volumes on the Asia-North America corridor fell 10.7% in May compared to the same month last year, reflecting the dampening effect of shifting U.S. trade policies.

G7 members and the European Union are quietly advancing discussions on what would amount to a new industrial strategy for rare earths, as Western dependence on China grows increasingly untenable. The ideas under review, from price floors to carbon-linked tariffs on Chinese exports, underscore how much critical minerals have shifted from being an obscure supply-chain concern into a central arena of great-power competition.

At the heart of the debate is how to blunt Beijing’s dominance. China controls the lion’s share of global rare earth mining and refining, and its April decision to impose export controls jolted industries across Europe. Though Beijing later eased pressure by accelerating licenses for some European buyers, bottlenecks quickly re-emerged, underscoring the fragility of relying on a single supplier.

Chinese state-backed firm China Mineral Resources Group has voiced concerns over “unreasonable” iron ore prices that are negatively impacting Chinese steel mills. Guo Bin, President of China Minerals, emphasized that elevated iron ore prices are squeezing margins at…