When dealing with China, Trump might get the trick on his sleeve – Watt?

Bonner Russell Cohen

China is the only country in the world that can seriously challenge the United States' long-term status as the world's top dog. The rejuvenating America is the only thing that ambitious China has risen to the Pile Peak. The reappearance of the bipolar world in 21^Yingshi Century – Copying the old beauty competition in the Cold War era – is an uncertain reality of our era.

But unlike the late Soviet Union (sometimes called “Haiti of Missiles”), China is an economic powerhouse, a technological strength to fulfill its geographical strategic aspirations. George Gilder recently noted: “China has about nine times more engineers than the United States, and perhaps 15 times more engineers than science and technology graduates.” Wall Street Journal. This gives China's rapid technological progress far-reaching economic and military significance, giving China a decisive advantage.

But what Trump and his team can do, in some cases, are already doing, can turn the table in Beijing. With the departure of a geopolitical powerless government, Washington can now take advantage of its considerable geological assets to put its competitors in the Far East at a disadvantage.

Beijing soon realized the importance of controlling the mining and processing of rare earths and other critical minerals, which was largely done when the United States and other industrialized countries began a climate-driven green energy transition. Beijing is not that stupid. To meet its own energy needs, it built hundreds of coal-fired power plants. Giving up the United States to have abundant fossil fuels and embrace green energy, which is largely controlled by China and can only benefit one country. For a time, China's bets seemed to be paying off.

But China's dominance in areas such as electric vehicles, electric vehicles, and provides backup for backup intermittent wind and solar energy, as well as raw materials in wind turbines and solar panels make the Middle Kingdom vulnerable to Trump's new support of the “American energy advantage”. One of Trump's execution orders on January 20, titled “Release U.S. Energy,” includes directives to revoke EV authorization, freeze unresolved green energy funds, speed up approval of liquid natural gas (LNG) export facilities, and Simplifies the allowable process of oil and gas leasing, exploration, development and production. It also accelerates the approval process for new pipelines and other critical fossil fuel infrastructure.

Another less-reported part of the Trump order focuses on mining key minerals. It directs federal agencies to determine all regulations, policies and orders that “impose improper burdens on domestic mining and processing of non-fuel minerals and take measures to modify or repeal such actions.”

The geostrategic case for promoting the mining and processing of key minerals in the United States is compelling. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China now produces 80-90% of the world's rare minerals. However, China only has about 37% of its estimated reserves. “Relying on China for key minerals is obviously not smart, unsafe, and not necessary.”

The public is known for its unpublishable names, and rare earths (actually rich) have a variety of commercial and military applications. They include smartphones, MRI devices, satellites, jet engines, night vision goggles, sonar on submarines and other naval ships, as well as real-time images, and surveillance and reconnaissance targets for unmanned aviation systems – to name just a few example.

Taking rare earths and other valuable minerals seriously means upgrading the country's hollowed-out domestic supply chain for these natural resources. This is Trump’s order to eliminate the “inappropriate burden” of these strategic minerals. Of course, this is easier said than done, as Trump’s initiatives will be challenged by lawsuits initiated by activists who actively weaken the American industrial base.

Trump’s desire to obtain Greenland from Denmark must be viewed from this perspective. The cold islands of the North Atlantic Ocean meet the Arctic in most untapped mineral resources. By placing huge islands under U.S. jurisdiction, Trump can deny that China (and Russia) gained Greenland’s wealth while cementing the U.S. presence in the Arctic.

Another Trump executive order temporarily halted off offshore wind leasing in federal waters and stopped approval, permits and loans for offshore and onshore wind projects. In addition to sending signals to investors, putting their funds into capital-intensive wind projects may not be a good idea, and the order has weakened Beijing's investment in wind raw materials.

“Wind farms need 10 times the key minerals of natural gas power plants and 1.6 times the nuclear power plants,” wrote Austin Gae of the Heritage Foundation.

China is the world's leading supplier of raw materials entering wind turbines, including Trump's intention to narrow the U.S. wind turbine market and China's main integration into it provides raw materials. The goal is to leverage the strengths of the United States, a fossil fuel and re-attracted nuclear power industry, while reducing our dependence on China by staying away from wind and solar.

This is a winning strategy.

Bonner Russell Cohen, PhD, is a senior policy analyst for the Constructive Tomorrow Council (CFACT).

This article was originally published by RealClearenergy and is provided by Realclearwire.

Related