Ford Motor Co. temporarily idled factories in the US over the last three weeks due to a shortage of magnets containing rare earth minerals, key components embroiled in US trade tensions with China.
Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley said the situation demonstrates the need to develop a domestic supply chain for critical auto components. China has instituted a new approval process for exports of rare earths that has slowed supply lines
“We cannot get any high powered magnets without China,” Farley said Friday at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “We shut down plants for the last three weeks because we cannot get high powered magnets.”
Farley said those magnets are critical to seats, windshield wipers, doors and audio systems. “We can’t make that stuff,” he said of the magnets.