Posted on 10/24/2025 3:55:50 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
For Xi, rare-earths bombshell signaled a new toughness, while TikTok was ‘spiritual opium’ that could be turned into a low-cost bargaining chip
But when the Trump administration hits China, Xi has decided to hit back even harder, in a bid to gain leverage over Trump while projecting strength and unpredictability—qualities he believes the U.S. president admires, the people said. The two leaders are set to meet next Thursday in South Korea.
“During Trump’s first term, China was constantly put off balance by his pressure tactics,” said Kurt Campbell, former deputy secretary of state under President Joe Biden and now chairman of the Asia Group, an advisory firm in Washington. “This time, Xi wanted to be prepared. He knows Trump wants a good relationship with him and respects strength, not concessions.”
The most powerful example of the new strategy came early this month when Washington and Beijing were trying to finalize the...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
And bribing other politicians.
Sounds like democrats are working with the Chinese and against the United States. What a surprise. /s
This is pro-China propaganda.
How is that new?
Looks like Xi maintained power during the 4th Plenum this week, after a serious move against him (removal of nine senior Generals/Admirals, who were his core supporters in the Military, just days earlier).
Don’t buy China’s crap and watch it fold like a cheap Chinese suit
Items:
1) They stopped buying soybeans and successfully found another source.
2) EVERYTHING OTHER THAN NEODYMIUM IS FOLDER FILLER. The US side knows this and everything is pointed at “Rare Earth Materials” for media consumption but it is the neodymium that is the Chinese MAX LEVERAGE. Their monopoly is 95+%. It’s not big money (less than $1B) but no one else has it and everyone else needs it.
3) Fentanyl is not a Chinese issue. They are not sending it to the US. They DO send the materials with which to make it, but they don’t send Fentanyl. They probably have already cut off all they can. They could offer to do so. And It Would Not Matter.
4) Because Item #2 is all powerful. The Chinese total exports to the world is a total, of which only 15% goes to the US. We could cut them off and buy nothing, and they would not care. Because Item #2 is all powerful.
Both countries have central banks to print infinite money. It is very quickly going to stop being a money issue. It will go like this.
“You remember when you told us to change our behavior and treat the Uyghurs better and stop abusing the Dalai Lama and Tibetans? Remember that?”
“Hmm, not really, maybe that was a different administration.”
“Well, we do remember it. You’re going to have to change your behavior so that you cease to be isolated from the world. That’s right, the world, of BRICs. Sums to majority of the Earth. Change your behavior.”
Good for them.
Wonderfully engrossing theory accept that there are viable alternatives for Neodymium.
Wow pushing the China is great narrative again while being negative on this administration. Bye troll
Elbows up!
The Wall Street Journal takes millions in “donations” from China. Yes, it is indeed a bribe, and Ruport Murdoch bends over and takes it up the @ss. /spit
Rumors are that Li Qiang, Cai Qi, Wang Huning, and Li Xi will resign from the Politburo Standing Committee. Three of these are Xi loyalists. Also it is rumored that Xi Jinping will be stepping down (but perhaps not immediately) from the General Secretary role to be replaced by Xi loyalist Ding Xuexiang. Ding may be a transitional figure only.
I think they confuse China with Trump...
“it is rumored that Xi Jinping will be stepping down”
It is an opaque process to armchair analysts like myself, but the lack of serious retribution against those who purged Xi’s Military loyalists lends credibility to the theory that Xi is still being sidelined, albeit in an orderly manner.
The Chinese are more isolated than the USA.
Wean off and decouple from China. There are safer supply chains that don’t build up the CCP or create mutant viruses.
Trump et al so knows this and they’re in the wean off phase, going slow.
China can’t be trusted because they’re Marxist and Chinese.
1) The Chinese replaced a LOT of US soybeans. What was this other supplier(s) doing before the Chinese came in? What are their previous customers going to do now that they have to compete with China? Can these other suppliers sustain the capacity China requires?
Nobody can just suddenly pull 1000s of tons of something out of their ass. Someone else is getting shafted now.
2) Neodymium is useful, but it’s not the only thing China controls and everyone needs.
3) Fentanyl, precursors, it’s the same thing. China is taking actions to place large amounts of black market Fentanyl into US cities. They can do a lot more than they claim they’re doing.
4) You think China is willing to sacrifice 100s of billions in exports that they really need, to hurt us over what you say is less than $1B in metal that we really need? That math doesn’t math very well...
The soybean source is a good question. I’ll give it some time because I’m curious now.
I saw a factoid on a blog and I did not check its accuracy but I suspect it’s correct. It’s said that of China’s total global exports each year less than 15% goes to the United States. That’s damn near crushing because that erases any pressure one might want to bring to bear to get samarium and neodymium.
Another question about the soybeans is why couldn’t we sell them elsewhere. Clearly we could not. Maybe China was overpaying.
I just consulted with an AI and it says that in 2024 the primary market for Brazil and Argentina soybeans was China, even then, and the remainder were sold to the United States. That is probably still true. And obviously it is complex. This would seem to mean that first of all both countries increased output by changing some tax laws when it became clear that China was going to want more soybeans, and that means they just produced more. It would suggest that no previous customer got cut out.
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