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Originally Posted by awareness
So rare earth metals is a misnomer?
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Gold is a "rare earth metal", doesn't mean there is only one country on Earth where it is found. It could be that there is one country that has a very well developed mining operation (S. Africa). Same with oil. There is a remarkable amount of oil found in the Middle East (many theories on why that is, no answers) but oil can be found everywhere in the world.
Why would the US military allow themselves to be dependent on China? The only possible valid reason is that it is economic, but we can find the same materials elsewhere at a higher price.
The problem with what Trump is doing is that he needs the European union to join the US if we are to prevail. If I know this then certainly many in the State department know this as well. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and perhaps by announcing these tariffs unilaterally it provides cover for smaller and more vulnerable countries to join us without becoming a target of Chinese ire.
I have yet to hear one person argue that China is a good actor and is undeserving of being blamed for unfair trade practices. No one is disputing the fundamental issue, the only real debate is over how to accomplish this. Since no one up to this point has been successful I would completely tune out the Democrats (16 years of Clinton and Obama with nada). I give the Republicans a pass since both Bush's were involved in wars that needed coalitions and didn't need to start a trade war at the same time.
I think prior to that the primary goal of foreign policy was to encourage China to trade with the rest of the world and enter the WTO