China restricts 7 more rare earths, something I have warned about many times.
China Retaliates Against Trump Tariffs
Bloomberg reports China Hits Back at Trump With Tariffs, Limits on Key Exports
President Xi Jinping’s government will impose a 34% tariff on all imports from the US starting April 10, matching the level of Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs on Chinese products. Authorities in Beijing also announced other measures including:
- Immediately restrict exports of seven types of rare earths
- Launch anti-dumping probe into medical CT X-ray tubes from the US and India
- Halt imports of poultry products from two American companies
- Add 11 American defense companies to an unreliable entity list
- Impose export controls on 16 US firms
- Halt imports of sorghum from a US company
- Investigate DuPont China for suspected antitrust violations
“The speed in which the counter measures were rolled out shows a high level of deliberation and a suite of appropriate responses to hit back at the US,” said Dylan Loh, assistant professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “It strikes the balance between inflicting some pain but not being seen as a overreaction.”
China Panics
Trump says China Panicked
CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED – THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!
Actually, Trump will be the one to panic if China halts all rare earth exports, not just to the US.
Great Time to Get Rich
TO THE MANY INVESTORS COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES AND INVESTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE. THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH, RICHER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!
The market is excited by the prospects “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”
The greatest tariff experiment since the Great Depression is underway.
Working Already
I am also pleased to report tariffs are already working.
GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!
Trump on Thursday reiterated his willingness to offer tariff relief if China approves the sale of TikTok’s US operations. By taking action now, Beijing may be trying to strengthen its position in any future negotiations.
Question of the Day
Q: Why should anyone believe Trump?
A: There is no reason for China or any other country to believe Trump will honor any deal he makes.
Trump unilaterally, without any cause, based on a pack of lies and idiotic calculations broke he own USMCA deal with Canada and Mexico.
Cheese Was a “Key Achievement” of Trump’s USMCA Trade Agreement
Please read my March 9 post Cheese Was a “Key Achievement” of Trump’s USMCA Trade Agreement
Trump is complaining about Canada’s cheese tariffs. In 2018, he was bragging about cheese.
I list over a dozen direct Trump quotes on the deal. Please read the above post before quoting idiotic statements by Trump.
People keep making excuses for idiotic policy and distorted calculations.
Flashback October 1, 2018
Late last night, our deadline, we reached a wonderful new Trade Deal with Canada, to be added into the deal already reached with Mexico. The new name will be The United States Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA. It is a great deal for all three countries, solves the many deficiencies and mistakes in NAFTA, greatly opens markets to our Farmers and Manufacturers, reduces Trade Barriers to the U.S. and will bring all three Great Nations together in competition with the rest of the world. The USMCA is a historic transaction!
Does anyone have any questions regarding the greatness, importance, and historic nature of USMCA to farmers and manufacturers?
It was such a great deal that Trump thanked Mexico and Canada. Notably USMCA is “Good for everybody – Farmers, Manufacturers, Energy, Unions – tremendous support. Importantly, we will finally end our Country’s worst Trade Deal, NAFTA!”
It “greatly opened markets to our farmers” and it even paid for the wall! And it will bring three great nations together!
Mercy! Who could possibly see things any differently?
Bear in mind, Trump negotiated USMCA. If there are any deficiencies in the treaty there is only one person to blame.
USMCA Expires June 2025
Bear in mind the treaty is up for renegotiation in June of 2025.
USMCA was ratified by the Senate 89-10. On the basis of national security lies Trump broke his own “greatest trade deal in history”
Q&A on the Greatness of USMCA
Q: Is 250 percent on cheese fair?
A: It’s not 250 percent. It’s tiered, and embedded into USMCA.
Q: Who signed USMCA?
A: Trump
Q: Who is responsible for this arrangement?
A: Trump
Q: Didn’t Trump brag that USMCA was the best trade deal in history?
A: Yes
Q: Is Trump a good deal maker?
A: Apparently not, by his own admission
Q: Will Trump honor the USMCA deal ratified 89-10 by the Senate and signed by himself?
A: No
Q: Will Trump honor any deal he signs?
A: You tell me, but no one can expect that
Q: Is there a massive lost in trust that Trump will honor any deals he signs
A: Yes
Trump may not honor any deal he signs. That is the bottom line.
No Nation Should Trust Trump
Trump may not honor any deal he signs. That is the bottom line, like it or not.
There is a cost to that. Why give concessions to trump when he may not hold up his end of the bargain, even on signed deals?
Defense spending, drugs and other Trumpian lies and distortions have nothing to do with the established facts. From the realistic viewpoint of allies, Trump broke his own treaty and is likely to do so again.
Spare me the sap about national emergency lies. There is no national emergency on energy, steel, or cheese.
If Trump wanted defense spending or drugs to be in USMCA, then he should have put them into USMCA. Since USMCA expires in June of 2026, Trump did not have to wait long to modify the treaty.
The ultimate irony is all the bragging Trump did about how great the USMCA deal was.
Understanding Rare Earths
At present China produces 60 percent of the world’s rare earths but processes nearly 90 percent, which means that it is importing rare earths from other countries and processing them. This has given China a near monopoly.
According to the United States Geological Survey, China has been supplying 54 percent of the germanium used by the United States, a material used in infrared technology and fiber optics.
The United States has not mined its own gallium, used in semiconductors, since 1987. Japan supplies 26 percent of American imports of gallium, China 21 percent and Germany 19 percent, along with several smaller suppliers.
Antimony (Sb), a critical metalloid, is a key element of the American war machine, essential for communication equipment, night vision goggles, explosives, ammunition, nuclear weapons, submarines, warships, optics, laser sighting and more, according to U.S. Army Major General (retired) James Marks.
China controls nearly 50% of the global antimony supply.
Related Posts
November 21, 2024: China’s Puts Export Curbs on Minerals US Needs for Weapons and Technology
In a warning shot to the Trump administration, China tightens export controls on some dual-use minerals.
December 3, 2024: China Halts Rare Exports Used by US Technology Companies and the Military
This is China’s advance salvo at Trump tariffs. It comes one day after the Biden administration expanded curbs on the sale of advanced American technology to China.
Today China retaliated by Immediately restricting exports of seven types of rare earths.
China can easily block rare earth exports to the world. If that happens, Trump will panic.
We should not be in this position, but we are.
Finally, please note Five Republican Senators Break Ranks With Trump Over His Tariff Madness
I understand they are not rare and I said that a dozen times over the years. And Biden was an idiot. I wrote about that too.
Biden Eases Sanctions on Venezuela, Blocks Rare Earth Mining in Alaska
https://mishtalk.com/economics/biden-eases-sanctions-on-venezuela-blocks-rare-earth-mining-in-alaska/
The one place I am in favor of subsidies is in case of genuine national security risks.
Cheese and other Trump bullish*t does not qualify. Rare earths do qualify.
So where is Trump? Mostly BS about Greenland that has backfired because of his big mouth. Ukraine? How many years will that take? Decades?
The US and China are going to decouple.
China does not have an unbreakable monopoly on either rare earth resources or production capacity, they’re just the current leader. Mainly because they’re willing to tolerate more pollution from the processing.
The U.S. is not without capacity, though. In 2020 the Mountain Pass mine/processing facility (owned by MP) supplied 15.8% percent of global rare earth production (according to Wikipedia).
MP Materials (MP) and USA Rare Earth (USAR) might be worth investigating.
This is not without risk – the predecessor company to MP, Molycorp, was early to the game and went bankrupt in 2015.
Dorito Man convinced the Global South to decouple from US diplomacy. Senile Man convinced the Global South to decouple from the dollar. Paprika Man convinced the world to decouple from trading with the US. It’s the end of the Usonian imperialism and the beginning of a better world.
Interesting that no one wanted to undertake the expense of mining the alleged Ukrainian “Rare Earths” when they were literally begging for investors. Now they suddenly have economic value? I think we will now have to develop our own resources since it is irrational to trust anything trump says or negotiates.
One thing is for sure, if trump invades Greenland or Canada, the entire world will come to their aid.
Whose side is trump on?
Both Jim Rickards and Martin Armstrong have written recently that Trump’s tariffs will not be inflationary and that middlemen and manufactures will pay the tariff costs. For me, it seems intuitively, that prices will have to rise on goods which have tariffs attached to them, but I am not an economist.
On March 8, 2025 China announced reciprocal tariffs on Canada’s $2.6B agricultural and food products. This was in response to the October 2024 Canadian 100% surtax on Chinese EVs, 25% surtax on imported steel and aluminum products, surtaxes on batteries, semiconductors, solar panels and critical minerals. China’s 5 month delay in reciprocation against Canada was seen as strategic signaling to the Trump administration. According to Reuters, an agriculture analyst at Trivium China, Even Pay, said “Beijing will use the election and change of (Canada’s) leader as an opportunity to reset relations as they did with Australia”. In 2020, China introduced tariffs, on key Australian exports in retaliation to Australian COVID origins probe. Beijing did not lift Australian bans until 2023, one year after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ousted Scott Morrison, who called for the COVID inquiry.
Contrary to MSM’s narrative, China and corporate investors were well prepared for Trump’s tariffs. And both responded in a strategy to reset relations with the ruling party.
Recall that Trump wanted to raise roughly $500 billion per year with his tariff’s. Instead, our “Idiot in Chief” has wiped out $7 trillion in market capitalization – with more to come. By acting like an uninformed bully and kicking sand in all of our trading partners faces, he has singlehandedly slowed trade and made trading conditions unreliable. Retaliation is underway and financial markets are in free fall.
Trump has proven himself to be a lying narcissist without a rational game plan.
“Liberation Day” was and is a farce of epic proportions and does not create an environment for negotiation. It created retaliatory acts and distrust amongst our best allies and former trading partners. Trumps policies literally force our allies to trade with our enemies and build financial relationships outside of Swift.
Trump may be getting rich as his financial managers sell his stock in “Truth Social” but America is losing credibility at an alarming rate and Trump should be removed from office and committed to the narcissist hall of fame where he can play with his pens and sign autographs for a living.
It is the Liberation Day from the US due the Global South.
A couple of points to consider:
1) “Rare” earths are a by-products of Aluminum refining – which we don’t have now.
2) China has been exporting steel at or below variable costs for years.-Clearly unfair.
3) China is in demographic decline. Average age 39.6 incresing half a year every yr.
4) 90% of Chinese have used an outhouse within the last year. Rampant poverty.
5) 90% of fresh water is contaiminated. Imported food is perferred.
6) Estimate debt to GDP 300% plus – Govt. borrowing is non productive.
7) China imports oil and food(priced in US dollars)
8) For every treasury they have there is corresponding 8 times in dollar debt.
9) China has enough housing to house half the worlds population- want a tofo house
10) China is in a deflationary spiral and most likely a depression
11) China is communist – speak out and disappear.
12) They are no longer the low cost producer.
13) Capital controls make the Chinese people saver and not spenders
14) Currency manipulation is rampant; they publish exchange rates.
15) .. and the list goes on…. and this is just off the top of my head.
Say it with me.
C -Communist
H – Hyperbole
E – Ever
E – Expanding
N – Narcisst
A – Affectlessnes..
I lived in China in 2011, in Tianjin, and nobody was using an outhouse. The people living in urban areas have a higher standard of living than we do in the USA. There weren’t any homeless people wondering around, or drug addicts, or criminals the way it is when I go to Market Square in Knoxville, or downtown Nashville, or god forbid — anywhere in Memphis.
I openly criticized Israel while I was there and didn’t get arrested or deported the way immigrants on visas do by the police state in the USA.
Why didn’t you try criticizing Chairman Xi or the CCP? You could have also said that Tibet should be independent among many other sensitive subjects.
I would bet that you would have been on the next plane out of the country, after spending a few days incognito in a Chinese holding room.
On the positive side, perhaps Laura Loomer will see your post here and recommend to Trump that you be sent back to China.
Did you enter China and Israel illegally? I bet not.
Buy low, sell high, live simply, foster good relationships.
Nothing else matters and you are in control of nothing other than your own actions. Funny watching everyone getting off trying to prove they are smart. I guess insecurity breeds insecurity lol
New year, new objectives. The expectation that politicians should never change their minds is a ridiculous burden we place on them. Although granted, most of them are incapable of learning much from experience. But changing the American policy of sitting idly while jobs and wealth disappear overseas is a long overdue goal.
Trump’s next moves should be:
Nationalize Smithfield Foods
Nationalize ALL Chinese owned land. Nobody owns property in China; it’s all leased.
Sooner or later China will just decide to invade Taiwan & get it over with or at least try.
The best factual discussion that I have seen on tariffs is https://youtu.be/nFg8Uo2gKUc?si=AGCj0O-5nOo_X6o0
on youtube there is VERY FAMOUS channel, young Ukrainian dude (under 30x)
, he has Chinese wife, married for 5 or 7 years already
and he+she travel in RV all over country. he is Ukrainian , from Odessa, so naturally he speaks russian language
======
i watched every video, and my notes
=1 roads, everywhere
=2 small business, cafes, street eating, etc etc – everywhere
=3 they dont cook , they order food (delivery),or eating out
=4 new cars, never saw junk one
=5 Chinese ARE HONEST, IN DUDE;S words, if you lost something, chances are you will get back.. they dont steal.
=6 smartphones, paying by qr code/etc .. everywhere
=7 streets signs pretty much repeated in English everywhere
life is just beaming in china!
As a general rule, FREE TRADE is NOT a one-way street,
That’s what I saw when I lived in China too, 14 years ago when it was less developed than it is now. Trump needs to hire the Chinese to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore because the US government and We the People can’t get it done. We’re only in the business of destruction. China would’ve rebuilt that bridge in less than a month had it collapsed there instead of here.
my best guess Chinese will try wait for middle term elections and hoping Dems would take lower body of congress
I am not american, and sometimes it is even hard to me TO UNDERSTAND simple logic in words
=1 trump says, china did tariffs. china panics. fine!
=2 but did not trump do same?? so trump panicked too?
=====
people always forgot it is not EASTERN=Asian WAY OF LIVING/THINKING to go way of confrontation.. it is western path!
it is western sailors opened all new islands /etc..
===
china is PRETTY MUCH LAND LOCKED country . it has been this way for many thousand years
north – cold Siberia
west and south west- highest mountains and deserts!
east- south, east – seas. but easterners were never big on building ships, and travel on .
so Chinese just lived inside country and tried to live own lives!
alx
Vietnam, Korea and recently Tibet might disagree with you.
China’s not landlocked. China actually led the world in sea exploration and trade for a long while, many centuries ago, until in 1433 the Ming emperor got suspicious of the ambitions of the successful admiral Zheng He and his fleet of 300 ships.
China is now building a major deepwater navy including carriers and everything else.
China has a large coastline, but I agree about the confrontation part. Their society has had meteoric growth because they invested in infrastructure, education, and other constructive pursuits while the USA has been in decline due to wars and other destructive pursuits. The Chinese even built up Nairobi, Kenya which is in sharp contrast to the destruction the USA did in Libya.
China bit the hand that was good to them for decades in the year of the snake. What we feared for decades have happened today. The snake did what it’s suppose to do. Luckily our econ is still strong and the Dow hover around 40K. The Dow tested Aug low, in an A-B-C down from the top. After closing the Aug 7/8 gap it can bootstrap itself and popup.
are you really that dense. Whole Wall Street is one big leveraged casino. If you think it is over you might be really surprised. Wait for margin calls 1st.
fond memories of 2008 are with me, this was definitely a show to watch. Don’t forget to buy popcorn.
Good luck on Dow hovering at 40K.Globalization has collapsed.
Positive spin on the situation concerning rare earth elements (aside from more people understanding that rare doesn’t mean scarce in this instance):
If restrictions/ tariffs are imposed, it will either cause the U.S. war machine to scale back or the MIC will diversify suppliers, which would be wise to do before Formosa becomes a flashpoint.
Looks like the U.S. has an overlooked source of rare earths.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40789-024-00710-z#Abs1
Unless Trump does a 180 turn, we are in for a 1980’s severe recession with 10% unemployment, and a burst by at least 30% of the housing bubble. CRE is also in big trouble, which means banks will be on the hook. No wonder Warren sold off BofA. As I have said before, unemployed people don’t buy houses” and with the massive inventory right now, especially in the Southeast, that domino will also fall. It looks like the “everything bubble” is finally imploding. Those of us who followed Warren have built up large cash reserves – although my IBM stock is getting creamed today along with even my utilities.
Sitting in cash, watching asset prices fall feels really good right now.
Looking forward to buying some properties in the near future. Anyone with half a brain knew this was coming and should have been prepared.
when will there be a run on the banks to withdraw as much cash as possible?
When troops start massing on the Canadian border.
Cash is good. Gold is better. Now, why would I say that.
The so-called “rare earth minerals” aren’t very rare at all. They are found virtually everywhere. The problem is that it is environmentally unfriendly to mine and process them. That’s why China does it and why we don’t. Don’t blame China for taking advantage of a monopoly that our country allowed to happen. You can look it up to find out how many critical minerals that the environmentalists here, using the Democrat courts as usual, stopped the mining and processing of. Especially if they are found to be located on some “sensitive sites”, which could provide jobs and help solve the critical minerals problem. But no.
As usual, we are short sighted and constantly shooting ourselves in our own feet. Nobody is to blame, not Trump or Biden or any other President. The people to blame are those who elect or appoint the judges. We are now seeing the same thing with judges stopping Trump from reducing the Federal workforce and DOGE trying to analyze spending.
Who is in control of the fucking country? Judges and the courts, it appears.
In the “Leave It to Beaver” episode titled “Next Door Indians,” Beaver and his friends dig in an empty lot and discover shiny stones, which they initially believe to be valuable riches. They later find out that the stones are garnets, used in jewelry and traded in India.
Interesting place to watch is US stocks.
In the past we had different crashes caused by some external factor and Uncle Sam was there as backstop with PPT sitting on standby.
Now it is opposite, market crash is triggered by US government.
If circuit breaker start popping at some point this might really spin out of control.
Wonder if Trump will be willing to bail out any bank or investment fund like they did with Lehman Brothers in 2008. That would mean he admit failure, definitely not Trump style.
Might be we will finally find out how market reacts without backstop .
Definitely stock up on popcorn while prices are low.
Look at a list of his campaign contributors, and you’ll see who will get bailed out.
also in 2008 we had coordinated effort of all major central banks and all were cooperating. Now with trust gone and USA (Trump) not admitting any fault it might not work. So if proper margin call are triggered we might actually have real live test of this whole experiment in matter of days
True. They could go under the bus with everyone else trump makes ‘deals’ with.
Read up on the plunge protection team
Pelosi jist said that the average tariff on Chinese goods entering the US is 2%
The avg tariff on US goods into China is 35%
In a sane world, this is crazy. And even Pelosi knows it
It’s even less than 2% because small packages used to be exempt.
The joke is Pelosi said this in 1996.
Specifically, it concerned giving China Most Favored Nation status. “Pelosi made clear she opposed the plan, noting the growing trade deficit and how it was leading to economic devastation for Americans.”
There is no hypocrisy equal to the Left!
The great tariff experiment begins. This is even better than I expected!
What a show!
All the goodwill the US accumulated over the last 70yrs is going down the Sh***r faster than you can say tariffs. I do hope we start to tariff Boeing on their $248M 787 Dreamliners etc, That should help share some of the pain here. It’s a show, of sorts!!! This years vacation will not now be in the US. Thanks Donald.
It isn’t supposed to be a one world government. See Brussels and what its done to Europe. It sure hasn’t been positive. Economically or culturally.
10 year down to 4.02 buddy! Youre losing!!!!
yes, that’s why i voted to get the hell out.
Yep. Understand your position. But US voters wanted this. (I personally do not vote.) And they are getting it.
It will be interesting to watch how this all plays out: USA vs the world.
An economic experiment. Lessons to be learned. Hopefully we will learn from it.
Brave new world. I wonder who will be inside nice and warm and who will be outside freezing. Hard to predict although many are certain they know already. The only things that are sure are death and taxes.
The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from it
Remember, less than 1/3 of eligible voters picked him. A supermajority didn’t. (They didn’t choose Harris either.) You were part of the plurality who chose no one – the safest choice.
Thing is, MAGA supporters love that he’s destroying everything. The worse he gets and the more unstable the world becomes…the more his nihilistics supporters love him. Every time people who aren’t maga supporters express fear and sadness…the magats are gleeful. So, the worse it gets the happier they get. So, waiting for things to get so bad and then thinking this time they will see he’s monstrous moron and we will as a nation self correct, is just delusional. The cult is more embedded with every mistake he makes.
Oh and he’s golfing right now
If you want to freak out a MAGA, say the word “secession”. They hate that word – it threatens their specialness.
Buying ‘goodwill’ is counterproductive, at best worthless.
As for Limey vacations, I recommend Ukraine
Christ on a bike, how many times are you going to make this exact same comment? You need some new material, mate.
Don’t care. Guess I will say it more often now. Enjoy.
Clowns! Orangutans! Donkeys! Elephants! Circus midgets! It’s the Greatest Show On Earth!
Chairman Mao is in trouble. The peasants are not going to be very happy if they are unemployed and watching party members live the high life. Real estate savings lost, failing demographics, sucking on Uncle Sam’s teats. Not much left in those teats. Good luck. One child policy if they invade Taiwan and take large losses which would be inevitable would sound the death knell for the party.
The question is what does Trump do now? His minions say take a deep breath and don’t retaliate. China, gives the middle finger and 34%. You will notice he did not say he would up the ante.
Trumps bluff has failed. He has shot all his guns. What does he do now make the tariffs 100%? He is now walking on egg shells with his own people, he can’t raise the stakes any more. The DOW would fall another 5%. The rest of the world can now hammer the hell out of him and he will have to take it.
if I was Canada I would put an export tax on energy and resources until he backs off. Most Americans would conclude that Trump probably deserves that after starting this war. I mean what did he expect? Please sir whack me again?
Canada probably won’t because Carney is a chickenxxxx, but Trump is not in a strong negotiating position at this point at all. The emperor has no clothes.
I wouldn’t describe Carney that way.
Canada may be waiting for winter to pass, before tightening the screws on energy exports.
Southern Oregon resident here, much rare earth on the public lands in this area and in Northern California have bee placed out of reach largely through monument and environmental lockup. When Scott Bessant talks seriously of Sovereign Wealth Funds being created a few weeks back I’m figuring these domestic resources will be tapped because of the trade hissyfits. Prep for much Gang Green™ gnashing of teeth regarding strategic minerals.
BTW, I want to add “Largely self-inflicted trade hissyfits” but can’t edit the original post for some reason.
Has anyone seen Greta recently? She seems to have disappeared. Is she in rehab?
So we should be held hostage to a communist country because they have rare Earth’s? Perhaps we should make deals to find them elsewhere, like we are doing in Ukraine. They also aren’t nearly as rare as you think. It has more to do with the refining of them because China has no pollution standards.
I understand they are not rare and you should know that given I said that a dozen times over the years. And Biden was an idiot. I wrote about that too.
Biden Eases Sanctions on Venezuela, Blocks Rare Earth Mining in Alaska
https://mishtalk.com/economics/biden-eases-sanctions-on-venezuela-blocks-rare-earth-mining-in-alaska/
The one place I am in favor of subsidies is in case of genuine national security risks.
Cheese and other Trump bullish*t does not qualify. Rare earths do.
So where is Trump? Mostly BS about Greenland that has backfired because of his big mouth. Ukraine? How many years will that take? Decades?
I guarantee you robotics and automation can take the health hazard out of mining and refining “rare” earths. sz
You’ve clearly never worked in a mine.
Reinforcing the Danish Joint Arctic Command based in Nuuk with more capacity especially space communication and setting up the Alaska-Canada- Greenland-Svalbard-Norway gap defense or should I say re-establishing it since it was dropped after the Cold War. The SpaceX’s first polar orbit mission that is still going on is there for a reason. Also expanding runways in a few areas to take larger aircraft and finally negotiating a base on the East Coast of the island able to link with Island and Norway by ship and plane. Fun fact. Alaska hosts the largest concentration of stealth aircraft in the world. Expect that sooner rather than later a nice concentration of them on the eastern side of our wonderful North American continent.
You worried about getting nuked there in France?
Actually, China has been working on pollution improvement for some time now. Has apparently cleaned up Shanghai, probably other places. Story: