Resource Cold War

I forgot to link to this when we were discussing the geopolitics of rare earth metals a few months ago, so here goes...

Much of US foreign policy makes more sense if seen as an attempt to break the Chinese monopoly on rare earth metals, which (ironically) are needed by both the US military, the tech industry and the "green" energy industry (wind, electric cars, etc). 

The talks with Australia are pretty basic bitch in this regard, compared to Trump´s attempts to purchase Greenland or his peace negotiations with North Korea. Still, it´s part of the same pattern. Trump is clearly setting the stage for a full-scale "resource Cold War" against the PRC. China was previously interested in buying a large chunk of shares in Lynas Corp, but were rebuffed by the Australian government.

Pentagon in talks with Australia on rare earths plant