http://theweek.com/articles/765276/how-china-win-trade-war-1-move
Suprised no one here has mentioned that China is one of the only countries that produces rare earth minerals the we have become so dependent on.
"These are elements like dysprosium, neodymium, gadolinium, and ytterbium. They aren't actually rare, but they do play crucial roles in everything from smart phones to electric car motors, hard drives, wind turbines, military radar, smart bombs, laser guidance, and more. They're also quite difficult to mine and process."
" It turns out the United States is almost entirely dependent on foreign suppliers for rare earth metals. More importantly,
it's almost entirely dependent on China specifically for rare earth metals that have been processed into a final and usable form."
Interesting article.