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Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist.\u00a0 Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.\u00a0 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-13/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Luke James Social Links Navigation Contributor Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.
Roland Of Gilead Surely $12bn is a drop in the ocean in terms of the market and high prices of rare earth minerals? Call me sceptical, I just don't see how this will make a difference, even as a fallback, Reply
TechieTwo CYA is important with the unstable world that we live in. Two months supply is better than no reserve supply. Reply
bit_user I agree with this. The article said: Based on what we know so far, Project Vault seems like it will function similarly to the existing U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Yup. That's what I thought, too. Reply
Tanakoi Roland Of Gilead said: Surely $12bn is a drop in the ocean in terms of the market and high prices of rare earth minerals? Call me sceptical, I just don't see how this will make a difference, even as a fallback, The goal isn't to ensure you can still buy cheap iPhones during a potential CCP embargo, but that they can't significantly impact critical military and national infrastructure. Reply
bit_user Tanakoi said: The goal isn't to ensure you can still buy cheap iPhones during a potential CCP embargo, but that they can't significantly impact critical military and national infrastructure. Well, if it's truly like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, then it actually can be used to soften price shocks from supply constraints. I don't know if it's exclusively for military supply chains, but either way it serves the purpose of slightly decreasing the leverage China has over the US. Reply
hotaru251 …does having the resources matter when thats not issue as much as the limited amount of stuff that can be made in a timeframe? Reply
Tanakoi bit_user said: Well, if it's truly like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, then it actually can be used to soften price shocks from supply constraints. True, but in the case of oil it's done not to ease consumer pain but because if workers can't afford gas to commute, the economy shuts down. And if shippers can't afford diesel, our nation's cities begin to starve in 72 hours time. Of course it can be (and sometimes is) abused to lower prices for sheer political purposes. hotaru251 said: …does having the resources matter when thats not issue as much as the limited amount of stuff that can be made in a timeframe? The US has plenty of rare earth reserves. And while opening a mine normally takes many years, in a national emergency situation it can be done far faster. Reply
bit_user Tanakoi said: True, but in the case of oil it's done not to ease consumer pain It actually has been used to lower market prices for oil & gasoline, in the USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Petroleum_Reserve_(United_States)#Petroleum_sales_-_Prior_to_2015 Tanakoi said: Of course it can be (and sometimes is) abused to lower prices for sheer political purposes. You call it political purposes, but giving potential adversaries a way to weaken popular support for the US administration is also giving them leverage. So, I think there's not such a clear line between political vs. strategic. I'd say that using it to lower fuel prices, at a time when they're already fairly low, would be an example of using it for nakedly political purposes. Tanakoi said: The US has plenty of rare earth reserves. And while opening a mine normally takes many years, in a national emergency situation it can be done far faster. The refining capacity is what China dominates most (90%, worldwide). That actually takes a long time to bring online. BTW, in announcement of this new reserve, it was mentioned that the U.S. already has a stockpile of critical minerals for defense and industrial purposes. So, this new reserve is either primarily or expressly for civilian purposes. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/trump-administration-plans-12bn-critical-minerals-stockpile-to-offset-china-supply-risk#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.