China has near global monopolies on these exports, accounting for 98% of global gallium production, 93% of germanium production, and 49% of antimony production.

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    • ThermonuclearEgg [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      1 month ago

      most capitalisticalist

      I think that answers the question. The US has been perfectly fine exploiting other countries to get it for that amount of time and thus has no reason to do anything else

    • LaughingLion [any, any]
      ·
      1 month ago

      It's also a component for stable and reliable fuses.

      But yeah, I agree. You'd think there would be other options. There probably are. But in America's hubris they most likely presumed they could just bully anyone into being suppliers for these materials.