Most modern weapon systems require rare earths to manufacture, including expendables like missiles and drones. Rare earths are less mined than they are refined, and China controls over 90% of the refining capability. Rare earths are generally found in small amounts in other ores. For example, Gallium in Aluminum. To get Gallium, you have to […]
Trade
So, the Dutch seized a Chinese owned semiconductor company: The Dutch government seizes control over Nexperia, one of Europe’s biggest chipmaker, owned by China. Nexperia’s Chinese operations pose a “threat to the continuity and safeguarding on Dutch and European soil of crucial technological knowledge and capabilities.” – 🇳🇱 Gov. pic.twitter.com/0PXmFIVvKp — NXT EU (@NXT4EU) October […]
John Maynard Keynes believed that ideas, hospitality, travel, knowledge and science should move freely between nations. if a country could reasonably produce something physical it needed, it should. Trade should exist, but be kept to a minimum. I’d like to highlight something Matt Stoller (the anti-trust guy) recently wrote: In May of 2020, the Chinese […]
First economic: The US dollar is down 5% over the last six months against a basket of currencies. And over the past year, it’s lost 9.6%. The biggest winner against a dollar has been the euro which has gone up 13% however, which truly is a win for Europe because it makes their natural gas […]
I don’t have much time today as I am travelling a lot in the next few days for various work commitments. But recently I did a podcast for Real Progressives in the US about trade and the external economy. I started the discussion with an interesting quote that I will reproduce here. Regular readers will…
Australia’s deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles (yep, him), has pulled off a successful trip to the United States after managing to negotiate a tariff exemption for Australian made couches, with US Vice President, JD Vance. ”JD loved the Australian made... Read More ›
So, Trump has decided to raise tariffs on India to 50% (who knows if he actually will), over their imports of Russian oil. Meanwhile: Senators Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal are the lead sponsors of a bipartisan bill which would impose primary and secondary sanctions against Russia and entities […]
This is a complete capitulation: 15% tariffs on EU goods, 0% on US goods EU to buy 750 billion dollars in LNG over the next 3 years (US LNG is more expensive than alternatives) 600 billion EU investment in the US 50% tariff on steel and aluminum to the US stays in place A commitment […]
The US-EU trade deal is a "hopelessly one-sided" agreement, which will ultimately harm the economy on both sides of the Atlantic, argues Simon Nixon
Campaigners warn that it risks creating a system of “corporate courts”