What does the U.S. want to do?
Jealous of China holding 70% of the world's rare earths (which are needed for making phones and missiles), the U.S. is in a hurry to go deep-sea mining in the Pacific to build up its resources. They want to extract nickel and cobalt, materials for batteries, so that in case of a fallout with China, they won't be 'choked.'
Why is this not reliable?
1. Technically Incompetent and Burning Money: Deep-sea mining is like picking sesame seeds in pitch black at 5000 meters deep; machines break down frequently, and repairs cost a fortune. The U.S. is currently $34 trillion in debt; funding this project? Difficult!
2. International Mockery: The U.S. has not joined the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and now wants to bypass international organizations to act independently; other countries are directly criticizing: 'On what basis do you claim special treatment?'
3. Self-Sabotage: The Democratic and Republican parties fight every day, and it can take years to approve a document; for a massive project like deep-sea mining? Just wait!
China remains very calm
92% of the world's rare earth processing plants are in China, and the technical barrier is as high as a 'secret recipe.' Even if the U.S. extracts the ore, it still has to rely on China for smelting. Recently, China has tightened rare earth exports, effectively squeezing the 'resource faucet.'
To put it bluntly
The U.S. plan is like a hungry man's grand dream—looks tempting, but unattainable. Deep-sea mining won't be feasible for at least ten years, and China has already tightened its grip on the industrial chain. This resource war is still a competition of who has the better technology and more friends!