Trump Backs Away From Barriers on Foreign Uranium

[DonViejo]

Source: The New York Times



By Ana Swanson
July 13, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump said he would not impose quotas on imports of uranium, backing away from one of many trade confrontations the administration has threatened as it tries to protect American industry.

Mr. Trump, in an announcement late Friday night, said that he did not agree with the commerce secretary’s findings that foreign uranium poses a threat to national security. It was a rare dissent for a president who has determined that foreign metals, autos and auto parts are a threat to America’s national security and should be restricted.

After several months of deliberation, the commerce secretary determined that the high volume of uranium imports do pose a threat to national security. Mr. Trump rejected that finding.

“Although I agree that the secretary’s findings raise significant concerns regarding the impact of uranium imports on the national security with respect to domestic mining, I find that a fuller analysis of national security considerations with respect to the entire nuclear fuel supply chain is necessary at this time,” the president said in a statement.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/13/us/politics/trump-uranium-trade.html?emc=rss&partner=rss

[jpak]

1. One more reason why nuclear power sucks

We don't import sun, wind or rain.

And nobody else does either.

[pecosbob]

2. World's largest producer is Kazakhstan

at almost forty percent. Russia is ranked sixth with 4.9 percent and China is in eighth place with 3.2 percent. We are at the ninth spot with 1.6 percent.

[paleotn]

3. He has personal financial interest

otherwise he wouldn't know or care.

[LogicFirst]

4. Backs away?

Changes his mind on everything. Courts rule against him.

[MineralMan]

5. Back in the days when I had a business selling mineral specimens

to collectors, I got an order from someone in Iran. That person ordered every specimen in my inventory that was a uranium mineral. I didn't have that many such specimens, really, so it wouldn't have amounted to more than a pound of raw minerals.

I declined the order. My assumption was that the buyer was not actually a mineral collector, but that Iran was mining uranium minerals on the Internet by ordering specimens from mineral dealers.

It was legal to sell those mineral specimens and ship them at the time. After 9/11, the regulations changed and monitoring for radioactivity in packages began to be used. My reaction to all that was to sell all of my radioactive specimens to another, larger dealer at wholesale pricing and to stop selling them altogether.

[Bayard]

6. So, THAT's where your name comes from!

[MineralMan]

8. Yup. For several years, I was in that business.

I was the second or third person to start selling mineral specimens on the Internet, launching my first website to do so in 1997.

It was great fun, and allowed me to create a very large and ever-changing mineral collection. For several years, I bought and sold specimens, and had customers all around the world. I specialized in low to medium-priced items and rare minerals. My strategy was to buy excess stock from other mineral dealers at liquidation prices at mineral shows. Then, I passed those prices along to my customers on my website. Every specimen had a photograph and detailed description and a price that was low enough for even collectors with minimal budgets to add to their own collections.

Eventually, though, many other dealers joined me in selling online, and the supply of specimens began to dry up. Eventually, there were no more large lots of excess specimens available from other dealers at low prices. Also, competition on the Internet acted to drive prices down. When it became clear that my business model was no longer viable, I auctioned off all of my remaining stock on eBay, selling it to another dealer at a price low enough to let that new dealer make a profit.

And that was the end of my business. I kept just a few large, heavy specimens. It was all just another one of my business ventures that played off one of my personal interests.


Note: There is a mineral dealer who goes by the business name, MineralMan. That's not me. He went into business after I had closed my business down. I never did business under that name. It was just an online screen name I used.

[Bayard]

7. The high volume of uranium imports do pose a threat to national security.....

Trump rejected that finding. Because he's such a scientist, you know.