Beijing has approved more export licenses for the critical minerals and magnets in recent days, but supplies remain scarce and factories in the West are running out.

Beijing has approved more export licenses for the critical minerals and magnets in recent days, but supplies remain scarce and factories in the West are running out.

© Keith Bradsher/The New York Times

Home builders, car manufacturers and can makers are among those that will see higher prices for materials. Those companies could charge customers more.

Since early April, China has stopped almost all shipments of critical minerals that are needed for cars, robots, wind turbines, jet fighters and other technologies.

Residents have a saying in Spruce Pine, that a piece of their home is in tech across the globe. But could geopolitical tensions hurt their mining tradition, and their lucrative quartz business?

A House Republican bill introduced this week would do away with tax credits that had encouraged Americans to buy electric vehicles and automakers to invest in new factories.

Dozens of countries have called for a moratorium on seabed mining, and have urged restraint until an international authority agrees on rules for the practice.

What happens if we run out of rare-earth metals or bond prices collapse?

The shift to cleaner power needs resources from China. An export ban just cut off some supplies.