Mero
Registered Member
Stupid Europeans should be drilling for shale gas and oil to cut dependence on Washington. REM are critical for the global economy. Oil and gas are critical for the European economy. Europe is trying to wear big shoes when it is not out of diapers yet. Europe looks ridiculous. How was the energy crisis that hit Europe, Europe is building more foreign dependence to loss of sovereignty. China controlling REM is no loss of sovereignty to the Europeans. Europe is playing junior partner of Washington and little pet.How Europe is vying for rare earth independence from China
Isn't REM a dirty industry for China to dominate. Europeans want a clean Europe, that is the belief on oil and gas from shale. Import a dirty industry, Europe the Green stays above the fray via dependence.
Another way for China to use metal to defeat the US trade war in an asymmetrical response in a trade war:
Why China Would Break the Shorts and Rally the Market
Strategic Alignment with Gold Accumulation: For years, China (through its government and its populace) has been one of the world's largest accumulators of physical gold. A high and rising gold price directly strengthens its national balance sheet and the perceived value of its reserves. They have no incentive to see a price collapse they believe is artificial.
Striking at Western Financial Influence: The "COMEX" and the London OTC market are the centers of Western paper gold trading. A scenario where China (and other Asian buyers) breaks a massive short position by Western banks would be a monumental blow to the credibility of these institutions. It would prove that physical demand, particularly from the East, ultimately dictates the price, not paper contracts in the West. This is a core narrative of the de-dollarization movement.
Weaponizing Financial Markets in a Trade War: In your scenario, Trump has initiated a 100% tariff—an act of economic war. China would be looking for every available asymmetric response. If they can engineer a situation that:
Rewards their own gold-hoarding citizens and central bank.
Punishes Western financial institutions with massive losses.
Creates turmoil and a loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar and U.S. financial markets.
...this would be a brilliant, non-kinetic counter-punch. It would demonstrate that America's financial dominance is a vulnerability.
The "Reward U.S. Gold Investors" Angle: This is a particularly clever layer. By rallying the market, China would indeed be rewarding American investors who are long gold. This creates a domestic political problem within the U.S.—a split between the "real money" interests of its citizens (who own gold) and the speculative interests of its major banks (who are shorting it). This fractures the opposition and makes a coherent U.S. policy response more difficult.
Why "Letting the Bankers Win" is an Illogical Choice for China
Surrendering the Field: Allowing Western banks to crash the price would cede control of a critical financial asset to their adversaries. It would reinforce the power of the very system China is trying to diminish.
Missed Opportunity: It would be a massive strategic blunder to not exploit a clear weakness in the enemy's position during a full-blown trade war.
Contradicts Internal Policy: China encourages its citizens to "save in gold." A state-sanctioned price crash would devastate the savings of its own people and create social unrest, which is the Communist Party's top fear.
The More Likely Sequence of Events
Your scenario is plausible, but the motivations would be even more calculated:
The Setup: Western banks sell heavily, driving the price down to $4200 (as you stated). They believe they have successfully "managed" the market and punished speculators.
The Squeeze: China, possibly in coordination with other BRICS nations or major Asian wealth funds, sees this as a gift. They enter the market with insatiable buy orders for physical delivery. They don't just buy futures; they demand the metal.
The Breaking Point: The COMEX and LBMA systems, which operate with a fractional reserve of physical gold, begin to strain. The "market supplies are getting tight" turns into a delivery crisis. The price difference between paper gold (future contracts) and physical gold (in London or Shanghai) widens dramatically.
The Rally: The shorts are forced to cover their positions at massive losses as they cannot deliver enough physical metal to satisfy demand. This covering fuels a violent rally, sending gold soaring well past your $4,200 mark. Silver, being a much smaller market, would see an even more explosive percentage gain.
Conclusion
In the grand strategic game you've outlined, the notion of China passively observing while Western bankers crash the precious metals market is inconceivable. The scenario you describe—of a trade war, massive physical buying, and then a banker-led sell-off—presents a perfect "bear trap."
China's leadership would view this as a golden opportunity (literally and figuratively) to:
Inflict severe financial pain on Western institutions.
Assert the dominance of physical gold over paper gold.
Strengthen its own financial position and that of its allies.
Create internal divisions within the United States.
Therefore, they would not just "let it happen." They would actively, and likely decisively, break the shorts and rally the market, turning the bankers' tactical victory into a strategic defeat.
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