Me on The Daily Show?!; Trump's Trade Wars Go Metal
and more about the human and environmental costs of renewable energy and digital technology—and how we can do better.
Me on The Daily Show?!
To my ongoing astonishment, I got to talk about Power Metal on The Daily Show last week! I had a great conversation with that night’s host, the unsettlingly tall but very funny Michael Kosta. We covered the global rush for critical metals, China’s supply chain dominance, Trump’s Greenland obsession, metal scrappers, Nigerian e-waste pickers, and even plants that suck metals out of the soil. You can watch the complete interview (a few minutes longer than the version broadcast that night) on YouTube here.
Trump’s Trade War Goes Metal
Click the arrow to hear me read the article below. Or don’t, and just read it!
Within minutes of President Trump slapping new tariffs on Chinese imports earlier this week, Beijing fired back by, among other things, restricting exports to the US of five critical metals. I warned about this type of escalation back in December, when China throttled exports of three other important metals. This latest move is a dire reminder that China dominates the supply chains of virtually all the metals we need for the energy transition and digital technology; if they ramp up to a full export ban on all of these metals, it could wreak havoc not only on the economy but also on America’s faltering shift to renewable energy and electric vehicles. Not by coincidence, I’m sure, the newly restricted metals also have important military applications.
The metals and some of their key uses are:
Tungsten: X-ray machines, oil and gas drilling, aerospace components, armor-piercing munitions, and ground vehicle armor.
Tellurium: solar panels, memory chips, thermal imaging and navigation systems
Bismuth: medications, ammunition, and semiconductors.
Molybdenum: lubricants, components for warships, rockets, and satellites.
Indium: liquid crystal display screens, cell phone touch screens, solar cells, data center components, lasers and sensors.
(Sources: USA Today, Aviation Week and the US Geological Survey)
Still, China doesn’t hold all the cards. With some metals, the US can try to boost domestic production or buy more from other countries. But it will be very tough to find alternative sources that provide enough of everything. The US produces zero bismuth and tungsten; China cranks out 80 percent of the world’s supply of both. Not to mention two-thirds of all tellurium and indium.
If China cuts America off, where could it turn for critical metals? Its best bet is Canada—a country which Trump also threatened with massive tariffs. “Canada is the biggest source of the United States mineral imports, providing key sources of uranium, aluminum, nickel, steel, copper, and niobium,” writes Gracelin Baskaran of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Any tariffs with Canada on minerals would have heavy consequences on defense, nuclear energy, and heavy manufacturing…As the United States races to reduce its reliance on China for minerals vital for national, economic, and energy security, tariffs with Canada may drastically undermine these efforts.”
Thankfully, Trump backed down earlier this week on the Canada front. While following all the coverage, I was fascinated to learn that while Canada would of course be outgunned in a full-scale trade war, it does hold a significant, um, trump card: my home and native land supplies almost 90 percent of America’s potash, a crucial agricultural fertilizer. Losing access to the fertilizer could be catastrophic, as even Trump allies recognized. “I plead [with] President Trump to exempt potash from the tariff because family farmers get most of our potash from Canada,” tweeted Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley.
This Week in Sand: The $400 Million Sand Mover
(Why am I writing about sand? Here’s why.) One of the many things we use sand for is fracking—the controversial practice of shattering underground rock to extract the oil and gas trapped within. Once you’ve broken up the rock, you need sand to keep the cracks open. Lots of it. A single fracked well can devour more than 400 truckloads of sand.
Historically, that has meant fleets of trucks hauling kilotons of sand from mines to wells, generating in the process all kinds of carbon emissions, traffic, accidents, and wear on roadways. Plus: expensive. To avoid all that, reports Texas Monthly, a Texas company has come up with an audacious potential solution: a $400 million conveyor belt. The recently-completed “Dune Express” snakes for 42 miles across the southwestern plains, bringing sand dug out of dunes near Kermit, Texas to a fracking site in New Mexico. It just delivered its first load in January. If it keeps working as expected, it’ll make things easier for local oil and gas companies—while possibly making things worse for the area’s stressed water supplies and endangered lizards.
More News Worth Knowing
⛏️ Trump Wants Ukraine’s Rare Earths
🚙 One Million Fewer Vehicles Enter Manhattan Thanks to Congestion Pricing
♻️ Samsung to Start Battery-to-Battery Cobalt Recycling
Bonus Backstage Pix!
I’ve been watching The Daily Show on and off for some 20 years, so it was quite a kick getting to be part of it for a minute. Also, nerve-wracking in the extreme. Backstage at the show’s New York City studio, I couldn’t help snapping pictures like a drunken crime scene photographer, abetted by ace Riverhead Books publicist Ashley Garland. Here’s my journey, from green room lounging to unabashed selfie-taking, followed by makeup, mic-up, lint-off, going on and coming off.
Well done, Vince. You sound great (and you got a couple of laughs). Bravo.
Damn you're good at TV!
Can you please write here about Ukraine's resources? The book covers its role in transit of Russian exports. Does it have enough metal to tempt our transactional dictator to make a deal? I hope the Embassy reaches out to you for help..