What One Mineral Reveals About the U.S.–China Trade War
What One Mineral Reveals About the U.S.–China Trade War was written by Miles Kellerman in 2025. It was published on his blog.
The author explores how antimony imports to the U.S. raised after export controls were placed by China, the world's primary supplier. The explanation is two-fold:
Tajikistan has begun exporting large quantities of raw antimony to European countries, especially Belgium, for processing and eventually export to the U.S.
- Several countries are 'sanction busting'; antimony is being transshipped through third countries
- "On May 9th, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party announced the creation of a special inter-agency operation. The objective of this operation is ... prevent criminals from circumventing Chinese export controls on critical minerals."
The author highlights that transshipping is the justification used for the Trump tariff regime.
"What sanctions and export controls do, in other words, is alter the domestic political economy of targeted states."