Ray Dalio, the co-founder of the largest hedge fund in the world, warned Wednesday that a move by the Chinese to restrict the production and export of rare earth metals to the U.S. would constitute a “major escalation” of the protracted trade war between the globe’s two largest economies. In a blog post on LinkedIn, Bridgewater Associates’ Dalio said that such metals are essential to many American technology companies working at the cutting edge of innovation. “Refined rare metals are a critical import that American companies don’t produce and need to get from China to produce many needed products in the U.S. such as ... (full story)