MP Materials is making a high-stakes bet that a U.S. company can challenge China’s dominance over the supply chain for rare-earth metals.

The WSJ’s John Emont writes that industrial giants such as Ford Motor have been rattled in recent months as China has used its chokehold over 90% of the world’s rare-earth magnets to cut off access to Western firms. Las Vegas-based MP has invested more than $1 billion in new infrastructure and equipment. A mine it controls in California has become the Western Hemisphere’s largest source of rare-earth minerals. Now, with an expanding Texas facility, it is racing to complete the supply chain so it can start converting large quantities of its minerals into high-grade magnets.

On Tuesday, the company announced a $500 million deal to supply Apple with rare-earth magnets made from recycled materials, with shipments expected to begin in 2027, sending MP’s shares sharply higher. General Motors is signed up to start taking deliveries later this year, and the Pentagon last week committed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in MP and become its largest shareholder.

• China added technologies for producing materials used in EV batteries to its list of export restrictions, as Beijing seeks to further consolidate its lead over the U.S. in certain industrial areas. (WSJ)
• Nvidia said it received assurances from the Trump administration that it can sell its H20 artificial-intelligence chip in China, days after CEO Jensen Huang met the president. (WSJ)
• The White House made these assurances to Nvidia because the U.S. wants to keep China reliant on American technology, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on CNBC. (WSJ)
• Rio Tinto, the world’s No. 2 miner by market value, named iron-ore boss Simon Trott as its next CEO. (WSJ)

June’s pickup in inflation might signal that companies are starting to pass tariff costs on to consumers. The Labor Department said consumer prices rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, faster than May’s increase of 2.4%. Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy prices, was 2.9%. Prices of furniture, toys and clothes—items that tend to be sensitive to tariffs—posted larger increases in June, the Journal’s Konrad Putzier and Nick Timiraos write. At the same time, car prices unexpectedly fell.

A 0.3% rise in consumer prices from May was the largest monthly gain since January, and a potential setback for White House officials. Economists generally agree that tariffs raise prices, but differ over how big price hikes will be or when they might appear.  Tariff policy remains uncertain, with Trump ramping up threats against the biggest U.S. trade partners in recent days.

Trump’s aides and allies say his whirlwind of trade moves amounts to a bet that keeping other countries guessing will allow him to dictate the negotiating terms. This could make it easier to bend them to his will, the WSJ’s Gavin Bade writes. That bet carries risks: Backing off deadlines threatens to weaken his hand, and his use of a novel legal theory opened him up to a legal challenge that might send the trade agenda back to the drawing board.

• Economists are increasingly worried about the reliability of official U.S. inflation data due to a lack of sufficient information. (WSJ)
• Canada’s consumer-price index inched up 0.1% in June from May and rose 1.9% from a year earlier. (WSJ)
• Sales in Canada of American-made whiskey, vodka and other alcoholic drinks fell by over 65% from early March through the end of April as provinces pulled them off shelves in response to tariffs. (WSJ)
• China’s gross domestic product increased 5.3% in the first half of 2025 from a year earlier. Beijing is targeting full-year growth of around 5%. (WSJ)
• Factory output in the eurozone partly rebounded from a tariff-induced slump in May, rising a faster-than-expected 1.7% from April. (WSJ)
• American Outdoor Brands’ plan to shift its supply chain away from China is in limbo as Trump’s tariff-deadline extension adds to uncertainty over where to go. (WSJ)
• Rolls-Royce is investing $75 million to expand its engine-manufacturing facility in Aiken, S.C. (CNBC)

Medical expenses, insurance and equipment costs and higher driver wages dragged down J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ second-quarter earnings. The Lowell, Ark., trucking and logistics company posted a profit of $128.6 million, or $1.31 a share, compared with $135.9 million, or $1.32 a share, a year earlier. Revenue was roughly flat with the prior-year quarter at $2.93 billion. Revenue was driven by a 6% increase in intermodal loads and a 13% increase in truckloads. Intermodal sales, which provide nearly half of the company’s overall revenue, rose 2% to $1.44 billion, while truckload revenue increased 5% to $177 million.

• BNSF Railway launched an expedited Los Angeles-to-Houston intermodal service that reduces transit times by two days. (Trains.com)
• China and Brazil have signed an agreement for the construction of a rail corridor to connect Brazil’s Atlantic coast to Peru’s Chancay Port on the Pacific. (Seatrade Maritime News)

Google, Blackstone, AI startup Coreweave, First Energy and Constellation Energy are among the companies pledging tens of billions of dollars to accelerate AI development in Pennsylvania. (WSJ)

Defense contractor Bechtel Plant Machinery said it plans to use robotics and AI from Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics to speed up military shipbuilding for the Navy. (WSJ)

Tesla’s top sales executive in North America, Troy Jones, has left the automaker, according to people familiar with the matter. (WSJ)

Renault slashed its financial targets for the year due to a worsening automotive market and stiff competition and appointed industry veteran Duncan Minto as interim CEO. (WSJ)

Volvo Car warned that tariffs and launch delays would hit the profitability of two electric models in the U.S., leading to a $1.2 billion one-off charge. (WSJ)

Airbus’s Acubed and Google spinout SandboxAQ are testing quantum-sensing technology as an alternative to GPS, which can be vulnerable to jamming and spoofing. (WSJ)

Finland’s Rauma Marine Construction is proposing to join Canada’s Seaspan to build two medium-size Arctic icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard. (gCaptain)

The Food and Drug Administration will review all imports of products it regulates, revoking exemptions allowing imports of some product shipments valued at $800 or less without a full screening. (Reuters)

The National Association of Waterfront Employers asked a Senate committee to maintain support for the $3 billion Clean Ports Program amid possible EPA budget cuts. (Journal of Commerce)

Daimler Truck is temporarily laying off about 600 employees in North Carolina, part of broader cuts affecting a total of about 2,000 North American workers at five sites. (The Charlotte Observer)

Red Sea shipping traffic rose slightly but remained within its normal range, despite the recent sinking of two ships by Yemen’s Houthi militants. (Lloyd’s List)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.