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 ...
Time to reopen the U.S. mines !
Needs to be done anyway !
Extremely stupid.
They may be hurting us, but they are hurting themselves too.
Cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I hope some more sensible people will prevail.
Note to China...rare earth metals are not that rare.
Plenty of places to mine them. To include America.
Customer is always right.
“if the US wants to rebuild its rare-earth industry”
This sounds like we “used” to have a rare-earth industry. Is this another stupid decision on our part?
Sign seen in Michigan’s upper peninsula: “Stop the whining and start the mining”
Yes, yes it was.
Thought there was plenty in Alaska. Am I remembering wrong?
They're probably too old anyways................
The gooks will do or say anything to make the stock market tank. It’s all about stock price manipulation.
Yes we did!...............
Which elements fall under the title “rare earth” supplies?
Searching “closed mine” under the specific element might help who is going to benefit from this move.
Bazillion tons of rare earth metals discovered near Okinawa:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/12/japan-rare-earths-huge-deposit-of-metals-found-in-pacific.html
We can start by mining our landfills.
“Time to reopen the U.S. mines!”
Yes, I have a hard time believing the leaders of our country have allowed the US to become dependent on anything. How long ago did these contract for strategic minerals become a reality?? and why??
The debt in hands of a potential enemy, communist at that, is absolutely ridiculous.
This is a serious escalation. Rare Earth metals are vital to a LOT of US industries.
Yes, we have them in the US, and a LOT in Afghanistan. But, it will take time to develop them.
The Chinese are moving this to a whole new level of war. They will NOT like Trumps response.
Met Pete Rivera once ............Peter Hoorelbeke (a.k.a. Peter Rivera) drums, lead vocals (19601974, 19761983)
To paraphrase Trump: Don't blame the Chinese, blame the US politicians who sold us out.
See where that gets us? Right. A hostage/blackmail attempt. Sounds like a National Security issue to me.
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