stranglehold

“The figures show the stranglehold caused by the government shutdown on the IPO market, which is unlikely to return to its September glories until an end to the deadlock,” Kerr said.

He also secured promises of greater cooperation on the key issue of rare earths as Washington scrambles to break China's stranglehold on materials that enable a wide array of modern technology.

But Celtic faded badly in the second period after their midweek European exertions as Hearts filled the home crowd with belief that the Old Firm stranglehold can be broken.

That is why he has been leveraging China's stranglehold on rare earths, the minerals without which you cannot make semiconductors, weapons systems, cars or even smartphones.

But it could loosen the country's stranglehold if it could build up to even a small fraction of its processing capacity.