**USE THIS ON THE REE DA – Carbon tax increases our REE dependency on China and spurs inflation

Some analysts have finally come to realize that access to the gigatons of minerals needed for the green transition would also have undesirable geopolitical consequences. Europe would become less dependent on Russia but more dependent on China. The U.S. would rely less on its domestic hydrocarbon industries—but more on Chinese minerals. Here, the IEA has been quietly honest in its analyses. China has over the past two decades engineered a global market dominance in most key energy-minerals that is greater than OPEC’s market share for petroleum. Good luck negotiating energy-mineral prices in that future.

In any case, a carbon tax would fuel inflation at a particularly terrible time. Those eager to find a compromise to reduce society’s dependence on hydrocarbons should consider other options.