How China has won the trade war before USA even realised it had lost.
US exceptionalists and Libertarian ideologs dont realise how crucial the nation state is to the wealth of nations.
'Even if the Trump administration secures more minerals from the likes of Ukraine or Greenland, the U.S. would struggle to process them...
President Trump wants to secure the minerals the U.S. needs for everything from smartphones to jet fighters by striking deals in Ukraine, Greenland and even Russia.
But even if the Trump administration secures more mines for American companies through agreements like the mineral-rights deal being discussed with Ukraine, it may have to send much of the minerals to China—its main geopolitical rival—to be processed.
A prime example of this conundrum is rare earths, a group of minerals used for defense systems that President Trump has said is the focus of his dealmaking in Ukraine.
“We very much need rare earth. They have great rare earth,” Trump said ahead of a recent cabinet meeting.
In truth, the U.S. already has abundant supplies of rare earths, but it relies on China to refine them. That is because the U.S. has lost much of its capacity to process minerals, while China has become the world’s dominant refiner of rare earths, cobalt, copper and many other metals.'