“In an interview with Fox Business, he said, “We’re getting everything we wanted — total security, total access to everything.”
Yet all of that was available to Trump from the start, without the drama that sent the NATO alliance barreling toward an internal crisis, a Danish official told NBC News on Thursday.
The only nonnegotiable point for Denmark was that Greenland shouldn’t be absorbed by the U.S., the person added.
“We can discuss increased military presence and more troops. You name it, basically, you can have it” under existing treaties, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
…
his Greenland gambit clawed away some of the trust that underpins a successful alliance, said diplomats, government officials and foreign policy experts.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/damage-done-trump-claims-victory-012236295.html
China is using its stranglehold on rare earth minerals to wage economic warfare against the world. If a company wants such materials from somewhere else, they will be more expensive, and those companies’ products will no longer be competitive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASaGYbN0dw
Trump’s deal with China has made things less bad than they were before the meeting, but they are still way worse than they were before Trump engaged in a trade war with China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr-gB3BNykQ
China is dominant in rare earth mining and refining. Catching up on how to refine efficiently may be the hardest part. The U.S. could do this not long ago, we let it slip and are now regretting it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMgmR3dl8P8
China’s stranglehold on the supply of rare earths is damaging America’s ability to build military equipment and commercial cars. So far, Trump’s trade war on China is costly with little to no reward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXd0dTfc2Pk
One reason the U.S. is behind China in rare earth metals is that China can tell companies what to do for the good of the country, while Congress and presidents have allowed companies to chase short-term profits at the expense of the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNrMWJiJ3sc
“China on Friday signaled it would approve the export of rare earth minerals to the US, hours after White House officials said the two sides had reached a deal, in what would be a major breakthrough following weeks of negotiations over US access to the key materials.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-china-formalize-deal-rare-075006013.html
“China has a virtual monopoly in the sector, dominating the entire supply chain from the extraction of rare earths to their processing and the manufacture of permanent magnets.
According to the International Energy Agency, the country accounts for some 61 percent of rare earths extraction and 92 percent of refining. Moreover, it provides nearly 99 percent of the EU’s supply of the 17 rare earths, as well as about 98 percent of its rare earth permanent magnets. Global demand for these minerals is expected to increase by 50 to 60 percent by 2040.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/china-rare-earth-materials-donald-trump-west-magnets-cars/
China is the only main supplier of rare earths. Rare earths are key to military and industrial technologies. The Trump administration seems unprepared for China’s predictable move to ban rare earth minerals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcR50vC6nGE
“Trump might end up getting less than he bargained for. Estimates of Ukraine’s supposed mineral wealth are based on outdated Soviet-era surveys that didn’t take into account the viability or cost of developing them.
The latest draft of the agreement, cited by Ukrainian newspaper Economic Pravda, would see Kyiv pay 50 percent of revenues from its state-owned natural resources into a fund that would invest in Ukraine. There would be no U.S. security guarantees in return.”
…
“Though the country reports more than 20,000 surveyed mineral deposits and sites, only around 8,000 of them have been assessed as viable. Of these, fewer than half were being exploited before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.”
…
“China — which processes nearly 90 percent of rare earths worldwide — holds a “near monopoly” over this step in the supply chain, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Most major rare earth producers, including the U.S., lack the domestic know-how or infrastructure needed to refine the minerals, forcing them to rely on Beijing.
Developing infrastructure to do so in Ukraine would, even with U.S. investment, take years and would likely be less efficient than shipping the minerals to China for processing.”
…
“Add to this investment the billions of dollars required to clear land of mines and explosives — which could take over a decade — and to rebuild essential infrastructure to sustain the mining sector, from roads to power plants.”
…
“Several promising prospects are located in territories under Russian occupation.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-bad-mineral-deal-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy/