When most people talk about possible trade wars between the US and China, they think about the massive arsenal of foreign reserves at China's disposal. But their ability to flood the market with USD pales in comparison to the other tools they have. For example, China happens to be sitting on a very significant majority of the world's Rare Earth Elements. Think thats no big deal? Look at what Japan is going to face.
The big game changer will be if someone finds a way to safely use a common REE mining byproduct called thorium (radioactive). And it looks like we might be getting close! Of course, the difference between theoretical, working, actual and practical is huge for each step, once we get there we might get free of the Dragon's grasp. If this were a game of Civ and I was the US, I'd be focusing on tech right about now =)
