This is the documented operational reality of what industry sources confirm as a zero-license policy that has functioned, for all practical purposes, as a complete embargo on American access to Chinese tungsten. No announcement. No formal declaration. No diplomatic incident that would trigger retaliation or international arbitration. Just forms that enter a bureaucratic process and never emerge on the other side.
Sixty percent of all tungsten consumed globally goes into cemented carbides. Every machining operation in modern manufacturing depends on them. No tooling, no machining. No machining, no production. The arithmetic really is that simple.
China produces eighty-two point seven percent of the world’s tungsten. The United States produces zero. Net import reliance stands at one hundred percent.
I love learning about the properties of atoms and molecules
Tungsten has no futures market. There is no LME contract providing transparent price discovery or hedging mechanisms. […] Participants cannot hedge. Speculators cannot arbitrage away mispricings. Inventory positions remain invisible until shortages manifest in production stoppages.
I cannot help but respect this author. He seems to have staked his claim on the intersection of finance and physics. I cannot imagine the sheer psychic stress and exasperation that must come from playing the role of Bill Nye the Science Guy to a bunch of ivy league frat bros.
USA destroys WTO enforcement mechanism by refusing to appoint committee members, then wonders why teacher isn’t showing up to help her special American boy
tragic
I cannot help but respect this author. He seems to have staked his claim on the intersection of finance and physics. I cannot imagine the sheer psychic stress and exasperation that must come from playing the role of Bill Nye the Science Guy to a bunch of ivy league frat bros.
bill ‘why’m i even tryin’ guy
USA destroys WTO enforcement mechanism by refusing to appoint committee members, then wonders why teacher isn’t showing up to help her special American boy