Global News: Canada Restricts Immigration While China Pulls Back On Rare Earth Exports

What happens abroad impacts MSCI members in North America. Here is the latest economic, trade, and other policy news of note for the last week:

• As BBC reported, the Canadian government recently announced that, in an effort to “pause population growth,” it will sharply cut in the number of immigrants it will allow into the country. Specifically, the government will reduce the number of permanent residents in 2025 to 395,000 from a previous target of 500,000. Those figures represent a 21 percent decline. Prime Minister Trudeau said his government “didn’t get the balance quite right” when it raised immigration numbers after the COVID-19 pandemic in order to address the country’s labor shortages.
• The Chinese government has made it considerably harder for foreign companies, particularly semiconductor manufacturers, to purchase rare earth metals and minerals that are produced in the country. Specifically, as of Oct. 1, exporters must provide Chinese authorities with detailed, step-by-step tracings of how shipments of rare earth metals are to be used in Western supply chains. China is also has taken greater corporate ownership over the metals’ mining and production. The New York Times has more at this link.
• In other news: China’s steel exports expanded 10.1 percent from September 2024 to October 2024 and 40.8 percent from October 2023 to October 2024 and are now at an eight-year high. Read more at this link.