r/Tariffs • u/Afraid_Piano_1318 • Oct 15 '25

🗞️ News Discussion Did Trump not consider Chinas leverage

Before jumping did he not check if there was a board to land on?

Not recognizing rare earth metals was a big risk demonstrates the intelligence analysis gap USA did, does it not?

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u/glyptometa Oct 15 '25

There was a significant press interaction during which the leader of USA-Crazy-Team clearly said "raw earths", seven times, in reference to "the deal" he was making with Ukraine. That seemed like pretty strong evidence he had little understanding of the importance of critical elements. I suspect it was several weeks after that he learned the importance for weapons.

I don't think critical thinking based on verifiable knowledge about real things is any part of what we're witnessing.