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 ...
There’s closed mines all over the NC mountains. Let’s get ‘em cranked up again.
Peru farmed out the exploration and development of their lithium deposits to China. It has gone on all over the world.
They worked hard to corner the market on rare earth deposits and now we know why. Always has been about manipulating the US in case we got uppity.
but rare earth metals are not that rare ,LOL
Nah, just throw in the towel and let China do all of our manufacturing for us. I bet we could get a great deal on aircraft carriers and fighter planes. Maybe even nuclear weapons. Save a lot of tax dollars. Combat boots, too. And all the tilapia we can eat. Oops, nevermind.
Minamitorishima:
Minami (south) tori (bird) shima (island)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/16/asia/japan-rare-earth-metals-find-china-economy-trnd/index.html
Everything we need is there, and there's tons of it, so F*CK CHINA.
WHERE did we get rare earths - before China?
Not sure about Alaska. There is an old mine in California and, I thought, a new site in Australia.
I’m sure Obunghole was working on this (sarc)
We could reopen our own mines, we got a lot, or we could trade 'em for Uranium One, ..., oh wait ...
[[Which elements fall under the title rare earth supplies?]]
Buttonidium- a rare earth element used to make buttons- without it, all our pants will fall down-
China is playing a long term game to undermine the US and the west. They are planning out decades, or a hundred years from now to be the dominant power in the world (not necessarily expansionary, but in control). They are still bitter about the opium wars, so no surprise they a happy to ship fentanyl by the ton to the US. We win this trade war now or end up dependent on China in the future. China doesn’t even have that strong a position, but have been quietly capitalizing on the weakness and self loathing of the west.
Then you’re old too.
The threat should be no surprise at all....they have been holding ‘that card’ over us for a long time... whenever they’re getting backed into a corner.
They’re asian and that’s how they play....think N.Korea.
Yup.
It's one of many reasons the EPA should be abolished.
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