🇺🇸⚔️🇨🇳 The U.S-China trade war is heating up. The Trump Admin is restricting the export of aircraft parts to Beijing

The Trump administration has been taking steps to turn China's dependence ​on US aviation suppliers into leverage for trade negotiations, according to people familiar with the matter.

Efforts to slow vital goods to China show how the US is working to strengthen ‌its hand in trade talks as Washington works to loosen Beijing's grip on rare earth minerals needed for a wide range of US industries, including vehicle manufacturing, chipmaking and aerospace. Two sources said the US Department of Commerce is positioning itself to increase pressure on Beijing, should the administration call upon it to do so.

The slowdown has taken several forms. The Commerce Department slowed export licensing for airplane parts bound for China in recent weeks, two other sources told Reuters.

Officials ​have also expressed interest in issuing an export regulation that could make it easier to restrict landing gear and other aircraft parts to China, two sources said. A draft version ​included a new licensing requirement on aviation hydraulic fluid shipped by US suppliers like ExxonMobil one of the people said.

And the Commerce Department has been ⁠limiting the number of parts licensed to be shipped to China's state-owned planemaker, COMAC, to keep the company from stockpiling, another source said.

With Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington last week, the two countries entered a new period of détente, agreeing to reduce tariffs on a variety of goods imported from each other and extend a trade truce set to expire on ​November 10, giving negotiators until January 10, 2027, to tackle tougher issues.

The effort to constrain the flow of commercial aircraft parts between the world's two largest economies, after a heated tug of war ​over parts last year, has raised industry concerns over planes as weapons for trade talks.

Aerospace has been largely unscathed by US President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have been slapped on multiple sectors and trading partners globally. But the ‌industry has ⁠wrestled with shortages of parts and materials due to geopolitical tensions. Producers of thermal coating sprays used to protect jet engines, for example, continue to struggle with Chinese controls of rare earth materials that have led to delays.

Meanwhile, China has sought several years' worth of spare parts for 200 Boeing jets it agreed to purchase last spring, sources said, in what would be the US planemaker's first major deal with Chinese carriers in nearly a decade. But the US has been reluctant to provide guarantees, seeing the parts as leverage that could be used to secure future concessions, the sources said.

It ​is unclear where China's request for the spare parts ​stands.

Access to parts manufactured by US aerospace suppliers is critical for Boeing and Airbus jets operated by Chinese carriers, as well as COMAC, which wants to ramp up production of its own commercial jets.

The US imposed new export restrictions on aircraft products last year as the trade war between Washington and Beijing intensified. In late spring, the US suspended licenses for GE Aerospace's jet engines, Honeywell Aerospace navigation systems and other parts ⁠for COMAC. It ​also sent letters to manufacturers of hydraulic fluid used in airplanes in China, saying the fluid was subject to a ​new — but ultimately short-lived — export license requirement.

🔗 https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-slows-aircraft-part-exports-china-trump-seeks-leverage-trade-negotiations-2026-10-01/

🇬🇧⛽️ UK average diesel pump price hits £2 per litre for first time

The average pump price of a litre of diesel fuel ​hit £2 ($2.64) in Britain for the first ‌time on Friday, according to data compiled by the RAC motoring organisation, the latest ​landmark in a global surge in ​fuel prices.

($1 = 0.7573 pounds)

@CIG_telegram

🇿🇦🎬 Is South Africa Becoming a Failed State?

📎 TLDR News Global

🇰🇷❌🇺🇦 South Korean president, Jae Myung Lee, accused Ukraine of "praying for the outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula"

The background is that Ukraine apparently violated a confidentiality agreement on the repatriation of two North Korean soldiers it had captured, who were handed over to South Korea.

According to Lee, it was Ukraine that asked for the transfer to stay secret, and Seoul agreed - then Kiev went ahead and revealed the transfer unilaterally. When South Korea called them out on this, Ukraine straight up denied the agreement existed, essentially saying that Lee was a liar. And, when asked to apologize, Ukraine bizarrely warned about an imminent DPRK-ROK clash resulting in this public callout by the ROK president.

Jae Myung Lee threatened Kiev with "additional measures" if the Ukrainian side doesn't retract its statements and issues a public apology

🔗 Lee Jae Myung

🛢 Bloomberg's columnist for energy and commodities, Javier Blas, says that G7 countries collectively agreed to release a further 100 million barrels worth of diesel and crude oil to stave off rising fuel prices.

The massive SPR release will be coordinated with the IEA.

📝: Further proof that claims of ship traffic in the Hormuz "recovering" and Saudi Arabia's oil exports "resuming" are hallucinated.

@CIG_telegram

📝 OECD Europe consumes 6 million barrels of diesel a day. This release is around 9 days worth of European consumption.

Everything is fake. There are no “one weird tricks” to solve this mess. Headlines are purely for chud-consumption and oil futures manipulation.

🔗 Philip Pilkington

🇮🇷⚔️🚢 A U.S. official told NYT that the IRGC has been launching about 30 drone and 10 anti-ship missile attacks against commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz each week since August.

Indeed, even though UKMTO doesn't report every incident, a significant increase in reports of oil tankers being hit has been noted.

Furthermore, it appears that the U.S. has completely abandoned the policy of "tanker-for-tanker" attacks against Iran.

🔗 MoloMonitor

🇾🇪🇸🇦⚔️🇾🇪 Reuters reports Saudi Arabia is preparing a new offensive against Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, potentially within weeks. Yemeni forces would lead the ground assault with Saudi air support, targeting Bab el-Mandeb or launching coordinated attacks on multiple fronts.

🔗 Faytuks Network

🇾🇪🇸🇦⚔️🇾🇪 Reuters: Riyadh has concluded it cannot enter new Yemeni peace negotiations with the Houthis while the ​militants remain in control of Bab el-Mandeb, giving them significant global leverage, the Western diplomats and Gulf official said.

The six people with knowledge of the Saudi preparations couldn't give a precise timing for the launch of the offensive, with their estimates ranging from within a week to until after the US midterm elections in early November.

Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said he expected an offensive to be narrowly focused and certainly more modest in scope than the Saudi-led operation in 2015 that sought to rout the militants.

"As much they want to vanquish the Houthis completely, they also need to get back to ​status quo ante before Houthis controlled territory along Bab el-Mandeb," he added. "Ideally, it would be a fairly limited operation to retake coastal areas and get back to normal maritime traffic."

🔗 bonzerbarry