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It could also be a play to squeeze China or similar nation dependent on middle east oil. USA semicon production not ready, if there were signals that China was

It could also be a play to squeeze China or similar nation dependent on middle east oil. USA semicon production not ready, if there were signals that China was ready for a play on Taiwan maybe this is a gambit to buy some time.

znnajdla 6mo ago
That would be a double whammy for America then: a devalued dollar and higher oil prices. Both cause inflation. China doesn’t seem to be squeezed when they seem to have a deal with Iran to buy in yuan.
- dboreham 6mo ago
  Quick note that "devalued dollar" is inflation, not a cause of inflation.
  - joshuaissac 6mo ago
    Inflation is about what goes on inside the country. So you can have inflation internally while the domestic currency strengthens against foreign currencies, and vice versa. If your currency is falling against foreign currencies but prices are also dropping domestically, you get deflation. This was happening in China a couple of years ago, and they were exporting this deflation to other countries.
thisislife2 6mo ago
Is China really dependent on middle-east oil? I read that they had been diversifying in preparation for an energy resource fight for some time now. For example, they've massively invested in Solar power generation, are building a 300-400 billion dollar gas pipeline from Russia, already buy a lot of oil to from Russia, and also purchased from Venezuela (though how that's going now is anybody's guess). They also have a good relationship with most of the players in the middle-east and helped repair ties between the Saudis and the Iranians.
- Icko 6mo ago
  I saw an article that went really into depth - basically oil has huge diversity, and they really wanted Venezuelan oil: https://open.substack.com/pub/endtropy/p/trumps-enormous-c-length-win-over https://open.substack.com/pub/endtropy/p/trumps-enormous-c-l...
- engineer_22 6mo ago
  Yes, China imports most of its oil, and most of its imports are from the Middle East. As your own reply alludes, electrification was clearly strategic move to reduce their risk in a scenario such as where we find ourselves today. However, there are things that you can do with petroleum you can never do with batteries e.g. lubricants, asphalt, plastics, cosmetics, jet fuel, etc.

znnajdla 6mo ago

That would be a double whammy for America then: a devalued dollar and higher oil prices. Both cause inflation. China doesn’t seem to be squeezed when they seem to have a deal with Iran to buy in yuan.

dboreham 6mo ago
Quick note that "devalued dollar" is inflation, not a cause of inflation.
- joshuaissac 6mo ago
  Inflation is about what goes on inside the country. So you can have inflation internally while the domestic currency strengthens against foreign currencies, and vice versa. If your currency is falling against foreign currencies but prices are also dropping domestically, you get deflation. This was happening in China a couple of years ago, and they were exporting this deflation to other countries.

thisislife2 6mo ago

Is China really dependent on middle-east oil? I read that they had been diversifying in preparation for an energy resource fight for some time now. For example, they've massively invested in Solar power generation, are building a 300-400 billion dollar gas pipeline from Russia, already buy a lot of oil to from Russia, and also purchased from Venezuela (though how that's going now is anybody's guess). They also have a good relationship with most of the players in the middle-east and helped repair ties between the Saudis and the Iranians.

Icko 6mo ago
I saw an article that went really into depth - basically oil has huge diversity, and they really wanted Venezuelan oil: https://open.substack.com/pub/endtropy/p/trumps-enormous-c-length-win-over https://open.substack.com/pub/endtropy/p/trumps-enormous-c-l...
engineer_22 6mo ago
Yes, China imports most of its oil, and most of its imports are from the Middle East. As your own reply alludes, electrification was clearly strategic move to reduce their risk in a scenario such as where we find ourselves today. However, there are things that you can do with petroleum you can never do with batteries e.g. lubricants, asphalt, plastics, cosmetics, jet fuel, etc.