“What generates war is the philosophy of nationalism; embargoes, trade and foreign exchange controls, monetary devaluation, etc. The philosophy of protectionism is the philosophy of war.”
~ Ludwig Von Mises
Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
It’s all out in the open…
The interesting difference between real, violent wars, and trade wars are that if you look deep enough, all battleground secrets are available for viewing.
For example, “trade wars are political.”
Really?
Since he started, one mantra Trump repeatedly speaks to himself is “Business. It’s just business.”
But it’s not just business.
The more Elon Musk fools around, the more he’s finding out.
CBC reports:
Ontario cancels $100M Starlink deal, leaving northern communities in digital limbo
“Ontario’s decision to cancel its $100-million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink as part of Premier Doug Ford’s response to new U.S. trade tariffs has left Indigenous communities in the north questioning the government’s commitment to broadband access.
Sol Mamakwa, the Ontario NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong, says the cancellation raises serious concerns about digital infrastructure for remote communities struggling with reliable internet.
The contract, signed in 2024, was intended to provide Starlink satellite internet to 15,000 remote homes and businesses in Ontario.
However, the Ford government scrapped it in retaliation to President Donald Trump’s trade measures against Canada.”
This a huge loss for Musk.
Starlink is a cash cow of recurring revenue for him, Space X, and his dream to one day, colonize Mars.
And there could be more hardships coming for Musk too.
If the China continues to feel the economic heat of Trump’s tariffs they may just cancel the provision of Rare Earth Elements(REE), which US electronic manufacturing depends on.
This would be another blow to Musk’s Tesla, Starlink, and Space X companies.
All of them, and the US manufacturing for electronics, depend on (REE) in some form or another.
Oil Price.com reports:
U.S. Dependence on Foreign Resources Fuels Trade Tensions
“…the United States is dangerously dependent on other countries for a wide-ranging list of metals and, in some cases, completely dependent.
Responses to tariffs do not have to take the form of retaliatory tariffs by the targeted country.
They can take the form of export restrictions that deny the United States key commodities and products necessary to important industries.
China currently controls 69 percent of rare earth elements (REE) mine production and almost 90 percent of the processing of these elements.
REEs are a group of metals, often found in deposits together, that are critical for modern electronics (such as computer hard disks, smartphones, and cameras); strong magnets used in hybrid cars and wind turbines; X-ray and MRI scanning equipment; aircraft engines; and crude oil refining.
This is just a partial list.
There are no viable substitutes for these metals available at any scale that would be meaningful.
By the way, China’s share of REE processing versus its share of worldwide mine production tells us that some countries that mine REEs remain partially or wholly dependent on China to process the ore.
Until the opening of a domestic processing facility in California, the United States was also dependent on China for processing.”
Having one REE processing facility is a huge risk to the US and Trump’s economic game plan.
So you can see, it is an open secret why Trump is negotiating so violently with Zelensky and Ukraine for a minerals deal.
Ukraine soil contains the REE minerals the US needs to free themselves from dependence on China.
Yet, details on the latest US-Ukraine minerals deal say the US is still far off from any uppencommence on the billions of dollars thrown in the Ukraine war pit.
Oil Price.com reports:
Details Emerge on U.S.-Ukraine Minerals Deal
“Ukraine has agreed a deal to allow the United States access to its natural resources, a major agreement that comes amid rapid diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s three-year full-scale war against Kyiv.
The deal, a copy of which was obtained by RFE/RL, does not address key questions and leaves most details to be provided by a future agreement.
It does not contain specific U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, a key demand by Kyiv.
The agreement also does not specify whether the United States would continue to supply military equipment and ammunition to Ukraine.
The text of the deal begins by noting that Washington “has provided significant financial and material support to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion.”
But it makes no mention of Washington’s demand for a right to $500 billion in potential revenue from accessing Ukraine’s mineral wealth that was seen in an earlier draft of the deal.
This was a point that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly said was unacceptable.”
Here’s Trade War Secret #1:
Politics isn’t just business.
Business is business.
You trade one item for another.
Or one item for a service.
Whether that one thing is money or not, it doesn’t matter.
Tariffs make trade political.
Follow the trail and you see who feels the most pain.
Right now, that’s probably Elon.
And it’s looking like a Tylenol won’t cure the headache for Trump’s buddy Musk at all…
Even a clever endorsement may not be able to save Tesla if this keeps up.
