Posted on 05/20/2019 10:30:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
China is threatening to take the trade war to the next stage: cut off rare earth metal supplies to US technology and defense industries.
Thats according to a couple of Globaltimes editorials. US faces squeeze on rare earths, says one editorial. US need for rare earths an ace on Beijings hand, goes another.
Without a reliable domestic supply, the US must rely on rare earths from China to supply industries of strategic importance, acknowledges Hu Weijia, author of the second editorial.
Rare earths are vital to many modern technologies and a wide array of weapon systems used by the US military, but China controls the vast majority of the world's supply, adds Weijia.It will take many years if the US wants to rebuild its rare-earth industry and increase its domestic supply to reduce its dependence on China's minerals.
Thats a long time, long enough for China to win a trade war against the US, during which time China's monopoly on the production of rare earths will help Beijing control the lifeblood of the US high-technology sector.
Ted Bauman, Senior Research Analyst and Economist at Banyan Hill Publishing, agrees. If the Chinese implement an export ban and can ride out six months of U.S. tariffs, it could well force Trump to concede, he says.
Still, he thinks thats bad idea for China to throw this weapon into the arsenal of the trade war because China will be seen by the rest of the world as an unreliable trading partner for these critical minerals, leading to rapid development of alternative sources.
Meanwhile, America could search for new suppliers elsewhere.
Another potential effect could be the U.S. finding or creating another place to potential mine these minerals, says Jordan Awoye, Managing Partner at Awoye Capital.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
However, this is very much like a Clive Cussler book I read recently.
REOs are not that rare...Mountain Pass Mine, California is hoping the Chinese do this. Plenty of other sources as well.
Based on the title (always judge a book by it’s cover) I was going to reject it as another sack of liberal global warming hysteria. Then I read a review - and the following:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35493082-the-rising-sea
from link:
“His first non-fiction, The Sea Hunters, was released in 1996. The Board of Governors of the Maritime College, State University of New York, considered The Sea Hunters in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis and awarded Cussler a Doctor of Letters degree in May, 1997.”
I’ll check out the book... Thanks Rio.
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