Ep 10 - Trivium Markets and Politics - China flexes its export control muscles, puts Nvidia in the hotseat

China’s approach to economic retaliation against the US continues to evolve, with the past 10 days seeing a new round of critical mineral export controls and the launch of an anti-monopoly investigation into Nvidia.

This week Trivium China Co-founder Andrew Polk is joined by Trivium’s Head of Critical Minerals and Supply Chain Research Cory Combs to go through all the latest.

The gents discuss:

• The details of China’s latest export controls on critical minerals
• China’s evolving approach to economic retaliation against the US
• Why we all should have seen this coming
• The most likely minerals next on China’s export control list
• China’s new long-arm jurisdiction approach to enforcement of export controls
• The anti-monopoly investigation into Nvidia – and the likely options moving forward

One key takeaway: The timing of these most recent moves by China – as the Biden administration winds down and the Trump administration gears up – seems particularly canny.

• Biden can do little to respond.
• And Trump has no incentive to respond, at least not at this point.

The upshot: China appears to be signaling to Trump that it is better prepared to fight back on the trade and tech war fronts this time around.

• So your move, Mr. Trump!